Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Hits New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $148.26 and last traded at $149.09, with a volume of 113848 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $153.23.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MORN. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.67.

Morningstar Trading Down 4.9%

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.61. The firm has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total transaction of $1,205,167.50. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,114,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,348,872,005.16. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 64,720 shares of company stock valued at $11,169,471. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 23.6% in 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 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 worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Morningstar by 278.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

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.