Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 40.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,547 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,084 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 23.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Morningstar by 3.4% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morningstar by 278.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Morningstar by 2,450.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 58.8% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,615,000 after buying an additional 51,449 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other news, CFO Michael Holt sold 270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.05, for a total value of $44,833.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 12,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,046,732.30. This represents a 2.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total value of $401,154.40. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,043,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,445,906.24. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 64,720 shares of company stock valued at $11,169,471 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Morningstar Stock Performance

Morningstar stock opened at $172.61 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $170.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.87. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $289.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.58 and a beta of 1.01. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.77. The firm had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 33.14%.

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.