Royal Bank of Canada Grows Stock Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 156.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 22,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,724 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $3,797,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Morningstar by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $435,995,000 after purchasing an additional 47,360 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 85.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,910,000 after buying an additional 523,387 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 900,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,644,000 after buying an additional 292,053 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $87,514,000 after buying an additional 45,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.88, for a total value of $1,499,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 7,976,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,650,270,588.48. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director William M. Lyons sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total value of $199,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,567,896. This represents a 7.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 71,944 shares of company stock valued at $13,817,942. Corporate insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Stock Up 0.3%

MORN stock opened at $207.41 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $175.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.39. The stock has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.64 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 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 $266.05.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $649.72 million.

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.