Magnetar Financial LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Magnetar Financial LLC trimmed its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 73.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,604 shares during the quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 497,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $158,772,000 after acquiring an additional 10,437 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 191,765 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,196,000 after acquiring an additional 5,045 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,056,000 after acquiring an additional 1,789 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 259.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,394,000 after acquiring an additional 9,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 4th quarter worth about $468,000. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 9,062 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.86, for a total transaction of $2,962,005.32. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 10,109,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,429,412.62. This represents a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 59,544 shares of company stock valued at $18,770,097 over the last three months. 39.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MORN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Morningstar from $387.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $298.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.38 and a beta of 1.23. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $278.64 and a fifty-two week high of $365.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company’s 50-day moving average is $315.72 and its 200 day moving average is $327.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $591.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $580.81 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 23.28%.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This is an increase from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is 21.24%.

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.