Insider Selling: Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $1,415,707.50 in Stock

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

Morningstar Trading Up 1.1%

MORN traded up $2.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.51. The stock had a trading volume of 210,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 519,282. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.99. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $266.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.72 million.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MORN. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,122,000. Westpac Banking Corp bought a new position in Morningstar during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $128,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Morningstar during the second quarter valued at approximately $8,411,000. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Morningstar during the second quarter valued at approximately $846,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP bought a new stake in Morningstar in the second quarter valued at approximately $235,000. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morningstar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $227.33.

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.