Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Decreases Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS decreased its stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 85.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,064 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,763 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $349,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position 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 buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of Morningstar by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 278.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 2,450.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in Morningstar by 58.8% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,615,000 after acquiring an additional 51,449 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morningstar Trading Up 5.1%

Morningstar stock opened at $173.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.49 and a fifty-two week high of $295.80. The stock has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $170.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.83.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group dropped their price target 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $227.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Michael Holt sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.05, for a total value of $44,833.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,046,732.30. This represents a 2.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total transaction of $401,154.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,043,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,445,906.24. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.