Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

MORN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group set a $280.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.50.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Morningstar stock opened at $184.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $172.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $199.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 1.11. Morningstar has a 52 week low of $149.08 and a 52 week high of $316.71.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $641.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.43 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 15.30%.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $1,173,241.52. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,184,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,314,629,973.56. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 84,643 shares of company stock worth $14,088,066 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MORN. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 85.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $246,910,000 after purchasing an additional 523,387 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 106.9% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $141,119,000 after purchasing an additional 314,275 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Morningstar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,367,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 1,196.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,713,000 after purchasing an additional 240,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 362.8% during the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 187,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,416,000 after purchasing an additional 146,693 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.