Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock Price Up 4.6% – Still a Buy?

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)’s stock price shot up 4.6% on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $202.51 and last traded at $204.7650. Approximately 149,433 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 473,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.69.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Morningstar Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $202.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.34 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 5,659 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.84, for a total transaction of $1,238,415.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 7,938,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,193,937.28. This trade represents a 0.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 86,500 shares of company stock worth $17,824,451 in the last quarter. Insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MORN. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $545,937,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $324,792,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,272,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Morningstar during the second quarter worth approximately $30,051,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 219.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 189,302 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,002,000 after buying an additional 130,035 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Company Profile

Morningstar, Inc is a global provider of independent investment research, data, and analytical services. The company serves individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, institutions, and retirement plan providers through information and tools designed to support investment research, portfolio construction, wealth management, and financial planning.

Its offerings include ratings and research on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds, and other investments; portfolio management and investment research platforms such as Morningstar Direct and Morningstar Advisor Workstation; and data, analytics, and software for asset managers and financial institutions.