Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 125,100 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 38.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 448,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 125,100 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $75,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Berkeley Inc purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,777,000. Fluent Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,541,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 22,459 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth $6,534,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $768,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other news, CFO Michael Holt sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.05, for a total value of $44,833.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 12,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,046,732.30. The trade was a 2.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total value of $401,154.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,043,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,421,445,906.24. This trade 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471. Corporate insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective 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 reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morningstar presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.33.

Morningstar Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $172.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.49 and a twelve month high of $289.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.12.

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

Morningstar 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.