Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) to Issue $0.46 Quarterly Dividend

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 20th, NASDAQ Dividends reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.455 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 11th.

Morningstar has a dividend payout ratio of 17.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Morningstar Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $303.79 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.84 billion, a PE ratio of 34.13 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $305.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $306.97. Morningstar has a 52-week low of $250.34 and a 52-week high of $365.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The business services provider reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.13. Morningstar had a return on equity of 23.23% and a net margin of 16.60%. The firm had revenue of $581.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $589.07 million.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.15, for a total value of $2,139,837.50. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 9,506,166 shares in the company, valued at $2,805,744,894.90. This represents a 0.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,569 shares of company stock worth $16,333,474. 36.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 23.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 278.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Morningstar by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after buying an additional 126 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 analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Morningstar from $339.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday.

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.