Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Morningstar from $350.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.00.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN traded down $3.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $210.90. The stock had a trading volume of 267,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 356,089. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $214.42 and a 200-day moving average of $236.22. The firm has a market cap of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Morningstar has a fifty-two week low of $202.89 and a fifty-two week high of $335.21.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.13. Morningstar had a return on equity of 25.07% and a net margin of 15.70%.The company had revenue of $617.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $603.29 million.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.95, for a total transaction of $1,536,637.50. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,693,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,842,601,101.75. The trade was a 0.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 64,350 shares of company stock valued at $13,668,311. Company insiders own 36.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MORN. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morningstar by 106.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $141,119,000 after buying an additional 314,275 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Morningstar during the second quarter worth about $93,224,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 266.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 280,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $88,190,000 after purchasing an additional 204,277 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 22,716.4% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 162,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $50,512,000 after purchasing an additional 161,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 362.8% in the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 187,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,416,000 after purchasing an additional 146,693 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.