Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 2,107 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,826 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,107 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Morningstar worth $6,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 626,941 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $196,839,000 after buying an additional 11,408 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 88.0% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 540,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $162,168,000 after acquiring an additional 253,137 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Morningstar by 17.7% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 236,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $74,191,000 after purchasing an additional 35,561 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Morningstar by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 196,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,914,000 after purchasing an additional 2,270 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Morningstar in the 1st quarter valued at $38,269,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MORN. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $350.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.95, for a total transaction of $1,536,637.50. Following the sale, the chairman owned 8,693,565 shares in the company, valued at $1,842,601,101.75. This represents a 0.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 63,750 shares of company stock valued at $13,537,223. 36.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of Morningstar stock opened at $214.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.44 and a beta of 1.06. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52-week low of $202.89 and a 52-week high of $365.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $219.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $261.48.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $2.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.13. Morningstar had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 24.68%. The firm had revenue of $617.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $603.29 million.

About Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc provides independent investment insights in the United States, Asia. Australia, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in five segments: Morningstar Data and Analytics; PitchBook; Morningstar Wealth; Morningstar Credit; and Morningstar Retirement.