Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $1,290,500.00 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.00, for a total value of $1,290,500.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 8,148,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,451,512. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $183.14 on Monday. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $149.08 and a 12 month high of $318.95. The company has a market cap of $7.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $195.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

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

Morningstar Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MidFirst Bank bought a new position in Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,400,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Morningstar during the fourth quarter worth about $686,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 1,196.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,713,000 after buying an additional 240,848 shares in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,369,000. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 153.0% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,061 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,186,000 after acquiring an additional 6,084 shares in 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.