Aquatic Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Aquatic Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 153.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,747 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,774 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC owned 0.06% of Morningstar worth $5,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,941 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $196,839,000 after purchasing an additional 11,408 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morningstar by 106.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $141,119,000 after purchasing an additional 314,275 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Morningstar by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 420,127 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $97,482,000 after buying an additional 88,496 shares during the period. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP raised its holdings in Morningstar by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP now owns 391,816 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $123,003,000 after buying an additional 68,896 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Morningstar by 34.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 318,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,891,000 after buying an additional 82,154 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,304 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $1,173,241.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,184,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,629,973.56. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 85,243 shares of company stock valued at $14,219,154. Company insiders own 36.20% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of MORN opened at $182.66 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $188.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.43. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $149.08 and a fifty-two week high of $316.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $641.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.43 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 27.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on MORN shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morningstar currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.50.

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.