Morningstar, Inc. $MORN Shares Sold by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 62.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,027 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $405,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MORN. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Morningstar by 85.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,910,000 after buying an additional 523,387 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morningstar by 106.9% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $141,119,000 after acquiring an additional 314,275 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,367,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 1,196.5% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,713,000 after acquiring an additional 240,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 362.8% in the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 187,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,416,000 after acquiring an additional 146,693 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total transaction of $1,205,167.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,114,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,348,872,005.16. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471. Insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of Morningstar stock opened at $172.61 on Friday. Morningstar, Inc. has a one year low of $141.49 and a one year high of $289.63. The company has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $170.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.12.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a return on equity of 33.14% and a net margin of 16.06%.The company had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $626.91 million.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MORN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.33.

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.