HighTower Advisors LLC Has $5.41 Million Stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $5,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Morningstar by 9.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,201,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,489,000 after acquiring an additional 102,206 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Morningstar by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 950,512 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,327,000 after purchasing an additional 5,158 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Morningstar by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 804,293 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $256,666,000 after purchasing an additional 28,698 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in Morningstar by 13.9% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 497,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $158,772,000 after buying an additional 10,437 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Morningstar from $387.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 1,716 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.89, for a total transaction of $562,659.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 10,151,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,328,450,736.80. The trade was a 0.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 59,544 shares of company stock valued at $18,770,097. 39.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morningstar Price Performance

MORN stock opened at $296.64 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $316.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $328.32. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52-week low of $278.64 and a 52-week high of $365.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.455 per share. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.24%.

Morningstar 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.