Insider Selling: Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells 6,728 Shares of Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 6,728 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.33, for a total value of $1,199,804.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 8,060,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,437,386,522.46. The trade was a 0.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.4%

MORN stock traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $172.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 448,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 562,626. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.08 and a 1 year high of $316.71. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $175.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $192.72.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group set a $280.00 price target on Morningstar in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Morningstar by 32.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,149,000 after purchasing an additional 22,109 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 74,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,199,000 after acquiring an additional 8,424 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Morningstar in the third quarter worth about $1,713,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 71,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,436,000 after acquiring an additional 10,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 37.8% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 25,437 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,902,000 after acquiring an additional 6,972 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.