Joseph Mansueto Sells 7,250 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.27, for a total transaction of $1,415,707.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 7,991,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,560,489,660.42. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Trading Up 4.7%

MORN stock opened at $206.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.59 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.17. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $266.05.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.27. Morningstar had a return on equity of 38.57% and a net margin of 16.43%.The firm had revenue of $663.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $649.72 million.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the second quarter valued at about $324,792,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 85.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,910,000 after buying an additional 523,387 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Morningstar by 106.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $141,119,000 after acquiring an additional 314,275 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,367,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 1,196.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,713,000 after acquiring an additional 240,848 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

More Morningstar News

Here are the key news stories impacting Morningstar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent institutional activity was supportive: several funds, including IEQ Capital, Quantbot Technologies and Callan Family Office, initiated or added positions during the second quarter. Institutional investors collectively own about 57% of Morningstar’s shares, indicating substantial professional-investor participation.
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s latest quarterly results showed strong execution. Morningstar reported earnings of $3.10 per share versus the $2.83 consensus estimate, while revenue of $663.2 million exceeded expectations of $649.7 million. The earnings beat remains an important fundamental catalyst for MORN.
• Neutral Sentiment: Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 15,474 shares for approximately $3.07 million across August 10–12. The transactions were made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and reduced his holdings by only about 0.19%, leaving him with roughly 7.99 million shares. The sales therefore appear unlikely to signal a major change in his outlook. SEC insider trading filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Several headlines refer to Morningstar’s research coverage of other companies, including stocks that lost value, August buy-and-sell ideas, and a bullish long-term revenue outlook for CoreWeave (CRWV). These are editorial or analyst views and do not represent changes to Morningstar, Inc.’s own financial outlook. CoreWeave revenue outlook article
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed. While BMO Capital Markets maintained an outperform rating and UBS retained a buy rating, Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock to sell, and the consensus rating remains Hold. This could limit upside if investors focus on valuation after the recent advance.

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.