Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Morningstar from $387.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Morningstar Stock Down 2.0 %

MORN stock opened at $296.11 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $313.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.71. Morningstar has a 12 month low of $278.64 and a 12 month high of $365.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.12 and a beta of 1.23.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $591.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $580.81 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 23.28%.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.455 dividend. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 9,062 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.25, for a total value of $2,557,749.50. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 10,038,270 shares in the company, valued at $2,833,301,707.50. The trade was a 0.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 59,544 shares of company stock valued at $18,770,097 in the last three months. Insiders own 39.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morningstar by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,803,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $944,144,000 after purchasing an additional 51,598 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,080,599 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $363,903,000 after buying an additional 130,087 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 804,293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $256,666,000 after buying an additional 28,698 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 696,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $222,115,000 after buying an additional 85,098 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 561,431 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,116,000 after acquiring an additional 64,020 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.