Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $708,674.16 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 4,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.08, for a total transaction of $708,674.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 8,103,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,921,739.20. This trade represents a 0.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MORN opened at $166.05 on Friday. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.08 and a 1-year high of $316.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $176.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 0.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 33.14%. The business had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Morningstar in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the first quarter worth $26,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MORN shares. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.50.

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.