Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells 7,250 Shares

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.63, for a total value of $1,447,317.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 8,006,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,598,421,439.60. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Price Performance

Morningstar stock traded up $4.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $200.66. 184,663 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 407,720. The firm has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a PE ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.72. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $266.05.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.72 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 38.57% and a net margin of 16.43%.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Morningstar by 23.6% in the first 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 shares of Morningstar by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Morningstar by 278.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 2,450.0% in 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 period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in Morningstar by 58.8% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,615,000 after acquiring an additional 51,449 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MORN. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on Morningstar in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. 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 Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $227.33.

Morningstar Company 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.