Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group set a $280.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.50.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $184.28 on Friday. Morningstar has a twelve month low of $149.08 and a twelve month high of $316.71. The firm has a market cap of $7.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $172.81 and a 200-day moving average of $199.23.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.37. Morningstar had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 15.30%.The company had revenue of $641.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.43 million.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In related news, CFO Michael Holt bought 1,000 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $186.59 per share, for a total transaction of $186,590.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer owned 9,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,768,873.20. This represents a 11.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.32, for a total value of $569,203.04. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,138,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,483,762,458.24. This trade represents a 0.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 84,643 shares of company stock valued at $14,088,066. Corporate insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,006,325 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $435,995,000 after buying an additional 47,360 shares during the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 9.2% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,414,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $328,133,000 after buying an additional 118,979 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 85.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,910,000 after buying an additional 523,387 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 900,297 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $195,644,000 after buying an additional 292,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 471,971 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $102,566,000 after buying an additional 51,844 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.