Fifth Third Bancorp Raises Stock Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 2,122.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,933 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,621 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $1,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $435,995,000 after buying an additional 47,360 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $246,910,000 after purchasing an additional 523,387 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 48.0% in the 4th 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 471,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $102,566,000 after purchasing an additional 51,844 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 365,560 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $79,440,000 after buying an additional 47,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $172.61 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $170.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.12. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.49 and a fifty-two week high of $289.63. The firm has a market cap of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.