Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Acquires 3,114 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 14.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,387 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,114 shares during the period. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. owned 0.06% of Morningstar worth $7,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MORN. Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Morningstar by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 705 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Morningstar by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Morningstar by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 6,372 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,146,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 288,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $96,997,000 after buying an additional 5,169 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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 on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.15, for a total transaction of $2,139,837.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 9,506,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,805,744,894.90. This represents a 0.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Caroline J. Tsay sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.84, for a total value of $61,968.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,346,254.80. This trade represents a 4.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 53,569 shares of company stock valued at $16,333,474 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 36.20% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $302.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.79 billion, a PE ratio of 34.03 and a beta of 1.02. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $250.34 and a fifty-two week high of $365.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $297.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $309.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.13. Morningstar had a return on equity of 23.23% and a net margin of 16.60%. The company had revenue of $581.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $589.07 million.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MORN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Morningstar from $339.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th.

Morningstar Company Profile

Morningstar, Inc provides independent investment insights in the United States, Asia. Australia, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in five segments: Morningstar Data and Analytics; PitchBook; Morningstar Wealth; Morningstar Credit; and Morningstar Retirement.