Inceptionr LLC Takes $519,000 Position in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Morningstar by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Morningstar by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Morningstar by 278.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 2,450.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 58.8% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,615,000 after buying an additional 51,449 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MORN. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.33.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total value of $1,205,167.50. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,114,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,348,872,005.16. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morningstar Trading Up 3.0%

MORN opened at $172.61 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $170.53 and a 200 day moving average of $178.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $289.63. The firm has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Morningstar Profile

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.