Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Reaches New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $148.26 and last traded at $149.09, with a volume of 113848 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $153.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on MORN shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $234.00.

Morningstar Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $174.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 1.00.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.77. The firm had revenue of $644.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 33.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total value of $1,205,167.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,114,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,348,872,005.16. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471. Insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 74,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,199,000 after purchasing an additional 8,424 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the third quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC raised its position in Morningstar by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 71,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,436,000 after purchasing an additional 10,794 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 37.8% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 25,437 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,902,000 after buying an additional 6,972 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Morningstar by 34.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 318,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,891,000 after purchasing an additional 82,154 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc is a leading provider of independent investment research, data, and analytics, serving both individual investors and financial professionals. The company offers comprehensive coverage of financial products, including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stocks, bonds and market indexes. Morningstar’s proprietary rating systems and research methodologies help clients assess the risk and return profiles of investment opportunities and make informed decisions.

Its core products include Morningstar Direct, an institutional investment analysis platform; Morningstar Office Cloud, a portfolio management solution for advisors; and Morningstar Data, which delivers extensive datasets through APIs and data feeds.