Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto Sells 6,728 Shares

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 6,728 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.33, for a total value of $1,199,804.24. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,060,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,437,386,522.46. This represents a 0.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.4%

MORN traded up $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $172.55. The company had a trading volume of 448,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 562,626. The stock has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $192.72. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $149.08 and a 52 week high of $316.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.77. The company had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $626.91 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 33.14% and a net margin of 16.06%.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased 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 purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC increased its stake in Morningstar by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morningstar by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morningstar by 54.2% in the third quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in Morningstar by 51.2% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MORN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group set a $280.00 price target on Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.50.

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.