Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.44 EPS

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.04 by $0.44, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $672.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $664.75 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 44.52% and a net margin of 17.00%.

Morningstar Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Morningstar stock traded up $2.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $225.01. 38,710 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 454,930. Morningstar has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $226.94. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $205.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $8.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66 and a beta of 1.02.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $1,662,315.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 7,960,570 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,789,448.20. The trade was a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 86,500 shares of company stock valued at $17,824,451. Company insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Morningstar from $230.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.67.

Morningstar Company Profile

Morningstar, Inc is a global provider of independent investment research, data, and financial technology. The company serves asset managers, financial advisors, institutions, retirement plans, and individual investors with information designed to support investment analysis and decision-making.

Its products and services include research and ratings on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds, and other investments; portfolio analysis and planning tools; investment-management and advisory services; and software and data solutions for financial professionals and institutions.