Venturi Wealth Management LLC Buys 61 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 101.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 121 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $39,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Morningstar by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC lifted its position in Morningstar by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 3,025 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $895,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Morningstar by 38.6% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 183 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 754 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 38.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 196 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Morningstar in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $390.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic cut Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $352.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $360.67.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of MORN opened at $337.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Morningstar, Inc. has a one year low of $264.79 and a one year high of $352.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $328.76 and a 200-day moving average of $310.94. The company has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a PE ratio of 44.59 and a beta of 1.18.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.01). Morningstar had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 23.28%. The business had revenue of $569.40 million during the quarter.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Morningstar’s payout ratio is 21.40%.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Director William M. Lyons sold 750 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.48, for a total transaction of $237,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,300,963.20. The trade was a 5.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 9,062 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.22, for a total value of $2,974,329.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 10,845,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,559,781,561.96. The trade was a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 71,195 shares of company stock worth $23,252,260. 39.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morningstar Company Profile

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.