Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 5th. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the business services provider on Friday, July 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 10th.

Morningstar has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Morningstar has a payout ratio of 19.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Morningstar Stock Up 2.8%

Morningstar stock opened at $170.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41 and a beta of 1.01. Morningstar has a 52-week low of $141.49 and a 52-week high of $307.17. 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 50 day moving average price of $171.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.16.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MORN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Friday, June 26th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on Morningstar in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $227.33.

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.