Royal Bank of Canada Purchases 13,724 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 156.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,724 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.06% of Morningstar worth $3,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in Morningstar in the third quarter worth $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Morningstar in the second quarter worth $29,000. WPG Advisers LLC lifted its position in Morningstar by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in Morningstar by 51.2% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 189 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Director William M. Lyons sold 1,000 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total value of $199,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 12,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,567,896. The trade was a 7.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.88, for a total transaction of $1,499,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 7,976,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,650,270,588.48. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 71,944 shares of company stock valued at $13,817,942. 38.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ MORN opened at $207.41 on Friday. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $266.05. The stock has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.64 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $175.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MORN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $227.33.

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.