Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $1,415,707.50 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.27, for a total transaction of $1,415,707.50. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 7,984,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,559,073,952.92. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $207.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.64 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $175.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.39. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52-week low of $141.49 and a 52-week high of $266.05.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.27. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 38.57%. The business had revenue of $663.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $649.72 million.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Morningstar in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in Morningstar in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Morningstar during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Morningstar during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MORN shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. 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. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Two investment 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 company currently has a consensus 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.