Wellington Management Group LLP Lowers Stake in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Wellington Management Group LLP lessened its stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,493,037 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 169,368 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $232,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar during the second quarter worth $25,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morningstar during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new position in Morningstar during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Morningstar during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in Morningstar by 51.2% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 189 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 5,659 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.84, for a total value of $1,238,415.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 7,938,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,737,193,937.28. The trade was a 0.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 86,500 shares of company stock valued at $17,824,451 over the last 90 days. 38.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.33.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $217.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $184.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.08. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1-year low of $141.49 and a 1-year high of $263.67.

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

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.