Meeder Asset Management Inc. Makes New $1.75 Million Investment in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 11,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,752,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MORN. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morningstar in the second quarter worth about $324,792,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $435,995,000 after buying an additional 47,360 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Morningstar by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 900,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $195,644,000 after buying an additional 292,053 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Morningstar by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $87,514,000 after buying an additional 45,798 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MORN. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. 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 lowered their price target on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morningstar currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.33.

Morningstar Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Morningstar stock opened at $208.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1 year low of $141.49 and a 1 year high of $266.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $176.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.20. The stock has a market cap of $7.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.77 and a beta of 0.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.27. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 38.57%. The business had revenue of $663.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.72 million.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William M. Lyons sold 1,000 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.00, for a total transaction of $199,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,567,896. This trade represents a 7.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.06, for a total transaction of $1,457,685.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,016,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,611,785,828.52. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,716 shares of company stock worth $10,099,415. Insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

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.