Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Short Interest Up 89.5% in February

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,401,034 shares, a growth of 89.5% from the January 29th total of 739,347 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 939,379 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Currently, 5.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Currently, 5.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 939,379 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MORN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group set a $280.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.50.

Morningstar Stock Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $183.14 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $195.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $217.32. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $149.08 and a fifty-two week high of $318.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55 and a beta of 1.10.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.37. Morningstar had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 27.94%. The company had revenue of $641.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $634.43 million.

Morningstar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Friday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. Morningstar’s payout ratio is 22.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total value of $1,290,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,148,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,450,451,512. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 82,121 shares of company stock valued at $13,649,951 in the last ninety days. 36.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MidFirst Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the fourth quarter worth about $3,400,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $686,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Morningstar by 1,196.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,713,000 after purchasing an additional 240,848 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new position in Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,369,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 153.0% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,186,000 after buying an additional 6,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.