Insider Selling: Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $1,791,837.50 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.15, for a total value of $1,791,837.50. Following the sale, the chairman owned 8,565,429 shares in the company, valued at $2,116,945,777.35. The trade was a 0.08% decrease in their position. 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 Price Performance

Shares of MORN stock traded down $2.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $246.08. 181,162 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 449,489. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $251.04. The stock has a market cap of $9.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $210.42 and its 200-day moving average is $187.43.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The business services provider reported $3.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.44. Morningstar had a return on equity of 45.17% and a net margin of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $672.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $664.75 million.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MORN shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $230.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.67.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MORN. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 80.0% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 41.7% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 221 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 12.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 662 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 27.9% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 403 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Morningstar by 32.6% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 403 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morningstar Company Profile

Morningstar, Inc. is a global provider of independent investment research, data, ratings and investment-management tools. The company serves individual investors, financial advisers, asset managers, retirement plan providers and institutions. Its offerings include investment and portfolio data, mutual fund and exchange-traded fund research, software for financial professionals, and wealth-management services. Morningstar also provides credit ratings through DBRS Morningstar and sustainability research through Sustainalytics.