Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Morningstar from $387.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Morningstar Stock Up 1.7 %

MORN stock opened at $296.64 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $316.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $328.32. Morningstar has a 12 month low of $278.64 and a 12 month high of $365.00. The company has a market cap of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $580.81 million.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,635 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.44, for a total transaction of $1,182,974.40. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 10,142,694 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,300,838,335.36. This represents a 0.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 59,544 shares of company stock worth $18,770,097. 39.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,626 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 285 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,259 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,798 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in Morningstar by 49.5% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 139 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.