Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,210 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MORN. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Morningstar during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 270.3% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 137 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 37.8% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 153 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 23.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Morningstar in the second quarter valued at approximately $57,000. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morningstar Stock Performance

MORN opened at $219.06 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $214.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $248.20. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1 year low of $202.89 and a 1 year high of $340.90. The stock has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.13. Morningstar had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 25.07%. The company had revenue of $617.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $603.29 million.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on MORN. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Morningstar from $350.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 price target on Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 1,286 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $213.12, for a total value of $274,072.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,600,815 shares in the company, valued at $1,833,005,692.80. The trade was a 0.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 63,750 shares of company stock valued at $13,537,223 over the last quarter. 36.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.