Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.46

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 10th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.455 per share by the business services provider on Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This is a boost from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Morningstar has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. Morningstar has a dividend payout ratio of 17.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of Morningstar stock opened at $356.07 on Tuesday. Morningstar has a one year low of $269.51 and a one year high of $361.73. The company has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a PE ratio of 47.04 and a beta of 1.19. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $340.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $317.55.

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

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Director William M. Lyons sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.48, for a total value of $237,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 13,590 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,300,963.20. This represents a 5.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 118 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.13, for a total value of $40,371.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 10,788,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,691,027,765.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,188 shares of company stock valued at $16,823,772 in the last three months. 37.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $352.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $360.67.

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.