Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $1.05 Million Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,283 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 407 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $1,048,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 0.4% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,099,502 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $325,288,000 after buying an additional 4,822 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 154.0% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 320,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $94,727,000 after buying an additional 194,122 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 1.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 272,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,492,000 after buying an additional 4,722 shares during the period. M&G Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 2.0% in the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 173,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,239,000 after buying an additional 3,322 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 0.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 128,016 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $37,874,000 after buying an additional 1,084 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MORN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Morningstar in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $390.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $352.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $360.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,838 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.90, for a total value of $1,212,424.20. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 10,581,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,342,578,967. This represents a 0.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William M. Lyons sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $311.60, for a total transaction of $233,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,340 shares in the company, valued at $4,468,344. The trade was a 4.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 71,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,252,260. 39.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morningstar Stock Performance

NASDAQ MORN opened at $337.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $328.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $310.94. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1 year low of $264.79 and a 1 year high of $352.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.59 and a beta of 1.18.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.01). Morningstar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 14.69%. The firm had revenue of $569.40 million for the quarter.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.40%.

About Morningstar

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.