Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.15 EPS

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.15, Zacks reports. Morningstar had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 23.28%.

Morningstar Trading Down 1.0 %

Morningstar stock traded down $3.25 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $319.96. The company had a trading volume of 163,147 shares, compared to its average volume of 117,584. Morningstar has a 12-month low of $281.37 and a 12-month high of $365.00. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $329.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $330.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.27 and a beta of 1.20.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. This is an increase from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 8,393 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.89, for a total value of $2,751,980.77. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 10,096,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,310,409,573.22. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason Dubinsky sold 3,223 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.88, for a total value of $1,137,332.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,106,235.52. This trade represents a 15.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,499 shares of company stock valued at $10,373,523 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 39.90% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Company 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.