American Capital Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

American Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 108,340 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,724 shares during the quarter. American Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.28% of Morningstar worth $18,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $435,995,000 after purchasing an additional 47,360 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,910,000 after purchasing an additional 523,387 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 900,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,644,000 after purchasing an additional 292,053 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 9.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 517,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $87,514,000 after purchasing an additional 45,798 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 38.6% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 448,870 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $75,881,000 after purchasing an additional 125,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on MORN. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on Morningstar in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morningstar has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.33.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total value of $1,205,167.50. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,114,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,348,872,005.16. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471. 38.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $182.43 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $170.64 and a 200 day moving average of $177.63. The stock has a market cap of $6.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58 and a beta of 1.01. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $289.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

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

Morningstar 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.