Michael Holt Sells 270 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) CFO Michael Holt sold 270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.05, for a total value of $44,833.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 12,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,046,732.30. The trade was a 2.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Michael Holt also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Michael Holt acquired 1,000 shares of Morningstar stock. The stock was bought at an average price of $186.59 per share, with a total value of $186,590.00.

Morningstar Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MORN traded down $5.26 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $171.81. The stock had a trading volume of 739,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 573,966. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.08 and a twelve month high of $316.71. The stock has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $175.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 33.14%. The business had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $626.91 million.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 32.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,149,000 after purchasing an additional 22,109 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 74,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,199,000 after purchasing an additional 8,424 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the third quarter worth approximately $1,713,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 71,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,436,000 after purchasing an additional 10,794 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 34.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 318,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,891,000 after purchasing an additional 82,154 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.50.

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.