13,602 Shares in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN Purchased by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 13,602 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,122,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MORN. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the second quarter valued at approximately $324,792,000. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Morningstar by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $435,995,000 after buying an additional 47,360 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in 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 worth $246,910,000 after acquiring an additional 523,387 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Morningstar by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 900,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,644,000 after acquiring an additional 292,053 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Morningstar by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $87,514,000 after acquiring an additional 45,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 5,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.84, for a total value of $1,238,415.56. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,938,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,737,193,937.28. This trade represents a 0.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 87,200 shares of company stock worth $17,949,751. 38.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morningstar Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of MORN opened at $217.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.78. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $141.49 and a one year high of $265.73. The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60 and a beta of 0.99.

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 the consensus estimate of $649.72 million.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Morningstar Profile

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.