Joseph Mansueto Sells 4,095 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 4,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.75, for a total value of $887,591.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 7,943,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,721,829,704.25. The trade was a 0.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of MORN stock traded down $1.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $215.97. 201,905 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 510,137. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.49 and a fifty-two 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. The company has a market capitalization of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.45 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $178.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.39.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 11.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 183,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,033,000 after purchasing an additional 19,264 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,534,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Morningstar by 176.5% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 35,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,629,000 after buying an additional 22,459 shares during the period. Fluent Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 150.0% during the 2nd quarter. Fluent Financial LLC now owns 14,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,241,000 after buying an additional 8,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidFirst Bank bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth about $3,400,000. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morningstar Company 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.