Joseph Mansueto Sells 7,906 Shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total transaction of $1,662,315.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 7,960,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,789,448.20. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Trading Up 1.8%

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $217.49 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $178.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.39. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $266.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60 and a beta of 0.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $649.72 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 38.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MORN. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 183,575 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,033,000 after acquiring an additional 19,264 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth about $6,534,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 176.5% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 35,185 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,629,000 after buying an additional 22,459 shares during the last quarter. Fluent Financial LLC grew its position in Morningstar by 150.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fluent Financial LLC now owns 14,362 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,241,000 after acquiring an additional 8,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MidFirst Bank bought a new position in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter worth about $3,400,000. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.