Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,500 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $2,354,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Morningstar by 23.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in Morningstar by 3.4% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 1,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management lifted its stake in Morningstar by 37.8% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 153 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Compound Planning Inc. lifted its stake in Morningstar by 6.6% in the first quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $233,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Morningstar by 1.0% in the first quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,200 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MORN. Wall Street Zen lowered Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Morningstar in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.00.

Morningstar Price Performance

MORN opened at $225.34 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $9.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.02 and a 12-month high of $365.00.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.19. Morningstar had a return on equity of 23.54% and a net margin of 17.22%.The firm had revenue of $605.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $605.84 million.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.50, for a total transaction of $1,859,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 9,373,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,404,219,387.50. This trade represents a 0.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 85,500 shares of company stock worth $22,341,957 in the last ninety days. 36.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morningstar Company Profile

Morningstar, Inc provides independent investment insights in the United States, Asia. Australia, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in five segments: Morningstar Data and Analytics; PitchBook; Morningstar Wealth; Morningstar Credit; and Morningstar Retirement.