Insider Selling: Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells 2,270 Shares of Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total value of $401,154.40. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,043,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,445,906.24. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN traded up $6.27 on Friday, reaching $179.64. 591,514 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 561,629. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 0.99. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.08 and a fifty-two week high of $316.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $174.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.15. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.77. The business had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 33.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group set a $280.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MORN. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 11.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 183,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,033,000 after purchasing an additional 19,264 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Morningstar by 56.1% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 89,885 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,199,000 after buying an additional 32,296 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Morningstar by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,775 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 29,423 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,974,000 after buying an additional 4,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 156.9% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 22,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,797,000 after acquiring an additional 13,724 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.