VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases New Stake in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,400 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,467,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Morningstar by 11.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 183,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,033,000 after purchasing an additional 19,264 shares in the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morningstar during the second quarter worth about $846,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter worth about $6,534,000. Fluent Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 150.0% in the second quarter. Fluent Financial LLC now owns 14,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,241,000 after buying an additional 8,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 176.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total value of $1,662,315.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 7,960,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,789,448.20. The trade was a 0.10% 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. Insiders sold 86,500 shares of company stock valued at $17,824,451 in the last three months. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morningstar Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ MORN opened at $191.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09 and a beta of 1.00. 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 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $261.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $194.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $181.19.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.72 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 38.57%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on MORN shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.33.

Morningstar Company Profile

Morningstar, Inc is a global provider of independent investment research, data, and financial information. The company serves individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, institutions, and retirement plan providers with tools designed to support investment analysis, portfolio construction, and financial decision-making.

Its offerings include investment research and ratings, market and portfolio data, indexes, software platforms, and retirement planning solutions. Key products include Morningstar Direct for institutional research and analysis and Advisor Workstation for financial professionals.