Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MORN. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Morningstar in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group cut their price target on Morningstar from $350.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morningstar has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.00.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of MORN stock opened at $210.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $214.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $235.75. Morningstar has a 52 week low of $202.89 and a 52 week high of $335.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a PE ratio of 23.99 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 1,286 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $213.12, for a total transaction of $274,072.32. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,600,815 shares in the company, valued at $1,833,005,692.80. This trade represents a 0.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Caroline J. Tsay sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.48, for a total transaction of $131,088.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $818,207.60. This represents a 13.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 64,350 shares of company stock valued at $13,668,311. Corporate insiders own 36.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Morningstar by 106.9% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $141,119,000 after purchasing an additional 314,275 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,224,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Morningstar by 266.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 280,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $88,190,000 after acquiring an additional 204,277 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Morningstar by 22,716.4% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 162,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $50,512,000 after purchasing an additional 161,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 362.8% during the 3rd quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 187,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,416,000 after purchasing an additional 146,693 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.