Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyWall Street Zen lowered shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN – Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.
Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morningstar currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.50.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Morningstar
Morningstar Price Performance
NASDAQ MORN opened at $186.46 on Friday. Morningstar has a 12 month low of $149.08 and a 12 month high of $316.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.18 billion, a PE ratio of 20.93 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $173.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.75.
Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $641.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.43 million. Morningstar had a net margin of 15.30% and a return on equity of 27.94%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Morningstar news, CFO Michael Holt bought 1,000 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,768,873.20. This represents a 11.79% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.32, for a total transaction of $569,203.04. Following the sale, the chairman owned 8,138,232 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,483,762,458.24. The trade was a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 84,643 shares of company stock valued at $14,088,066 over the last 90 days. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
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 company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Morningstar by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management boosted its stake in Morningstar by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 13,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,225,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Morningstar by 36.0% in the 4th quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 185 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morningstar by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morningstar by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.