Joseph Mansueto Sells 7,250 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total transaction of $1,290,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 8,148,604 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,451,512. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Morningstar stock traded up $0.83 on Friday, hitting $183.14. 657,200 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 610,680. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $195.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55 and a beta of 1.08. Morningstar, Inc. has a one year low of $149.08 and a one year high of $318.95.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $641.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $634.43 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 15.30%.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is 22.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in Morningstar by 3.4% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 278.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 2nd quarter worth about $373,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in Morningstar by 475.2% in the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 10,054 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,156,000 after purchasing an additional 8,306 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MORN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group set a $280.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.50.

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.