Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $223.27 and last traded at $223.4190, with a volume of 36,146 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $213.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Morningstar from $230.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.67.

Morningstar Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $204.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $186.51. The company has a market capitalization of $8.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $649.72 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 38.57% and a net margin of 16.43%.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total transaction of $1,662,315.56. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 7,960,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,789,448.20. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 86,500 shares of company stock worth $17,824,451. 38.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bamco Inc. NY acquired a new stake in Morningstar during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $545,937,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at $324,792,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 9.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,514,000 after acquiring an additional 45,798 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 38.6% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 448,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $75,881,000 after acquiring an additional 125,100 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 38.5% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 394,931 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $66,763,000 after acquiring an additional 109,833 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morningstar Company Profile

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

Its products and services include research and ratings on mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds, and other investments; portfolio analysis and planning tools; investment-management and advisory services; and software and data solutions for financial professionals and institutions.