Joseph Mansueto Sells 6,594 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 6,594 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.75, for a total transaction of $1,409,467.50. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,955,196 shares in the company, valued at $1,700,423,145. The trade was a 0.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Price Performance

MORN stock opened at $217.49 on Friday. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.49 and a 1 year high of $266.05. The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $178.13 and a 200 day moving average of $176.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $649.72 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 38.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MORN. UBS Group dropped their price target on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MORN. Keeler Thomas Management LLC raised its stake in Morningstar by 14.3% during the second quarter. Keeler Thomas Management LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 2.7% in the second quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the second quarter valued at $1,321,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the second quarter valued at $574,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter worth about $903,000. 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.