Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock Jumps 4.6% – Should You Buy?

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)’s share price rose 4.6% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $202.51 and last traded at $204.7650. 149,433 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 473,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on MORN shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.33.

Morningstar Stock Up 4.1%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33 and a beta of 1.02.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total value of $1,662,315.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,960,570 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,789,448.20. This represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 86,500 shares of company stock worth $17,824,451. Insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MORN. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 37.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,653 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 182.2% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 39,989 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,239,000 after buying an additional 25,817 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 60.3% in the second quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,533 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Morningstar by 95.0% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,907 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc is a global provider of independent investment research, data, and analytical services. The company serves individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, institutions, and retirement plan providers through information and tools designed to support investment research, portfolio construction, wealth management, and financial planning.

Its offerings include ratings and research on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds, and other investments; portfolio management and investment research platforms such as Morningstar Direct and Morningstar Advisor Workstation; and data, analytics, and software for asset managers and financial institutions.