Joseph Mansueto Sells 2,272 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 2,272 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.38, for a total value of $450,719.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,014,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,589,851,044.60. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of Morningstar stock traded up $4.09 on Friday, hitting $200.66. 184,663 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 407,720. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.72. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $266.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 0.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.27. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 38.57%. The business had revenue of $663.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $649.72 million.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Berkeley Inc purchased a new position in Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth $3,777,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,534,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Morningstar by 176.5% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 35,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,629,000 after buying an additional 22,459 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Morningstar in the fourth quarter worth about $768,000. Finally, MidFirst Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the fourth quarter worth about $3,400,000. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MORN. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $227.33.

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.