Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MORN. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price objective on the stock. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $360.67.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of MORN opened at $339.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.89 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $344.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $322.78. Morningstar has a 12 month low of $269.51 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.

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

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This is a positive change from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, CFO Jason Dubinsky sold 3,223 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.88, for a total transaction of $1,137,332.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,304 shares in the company, valued at $6,106,235.52. The trade was a 15.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 9,062 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.22, for a total transaction of $2,974,329.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 10,845,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,559,781,561.96. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,411 shares of company stock valued at $17,961,104 in the last quarter. 39.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MORN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Morningstar by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,201,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,489,000 after acquiring an additional 102,206 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Morningstar by 0.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 950,512 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,327,000 after purchasing an additional 5,158 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 28,698 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Morningstar by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 696,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $222,115,000 after purchasing an additional 85,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 497,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $158,772,000 after buying an additional 10,437 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.