Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on MORN. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.33.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of MORN stock opened at $191.56 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 firm has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.14 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar has a 52 week low of $141.49 and a 52 week high of $235.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $200.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.67.

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

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total value of $1,662,315.56. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 7,960,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,789,448.20. The trade was a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 86,500 shares of company stock worth $17,824,451. 38.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 315 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Morningstar by 151.7% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 219 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its stake in Morningstar by 8.0% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Morningstar by 15.6% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,007 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Morningstar during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc is a global provider of independent investment research, data, and financial information. The company serves individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, institutions, and retirement plan providers with tools designed to support investment analysis, portfolio construction, and financial decision-making.

Its offerings include investment research and ratings, market and portfolio data, indexes, software platforms, and retirement planning solutions. Key products include Morningstar Direct for institutional research and analysis and Advisor Workstation for financial professionals.