Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Morningstar from “buy” to “hold,” although the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $227.33.
• Morningstar opened at $217.65, with its shares trading above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages. The company’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, reporting adjusted EPS of $3.10 and revenue of $663.2 million.
• Insiders have sold shares recently, including Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto’s $1.66 million sale, while institutional investors own approximately 57.02% of the company.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morningstar from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $227.33.

Morningstar Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $217.65 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $184.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.98. Morningstar has a 52-week low of $141.49 and a 52-week high of $263.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $663.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $649.72 million. Morningstar had a return on equity of 38.57% and a net margin of 16.43%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total transaction of $1,662,315.56. Following the sale, the chairman owned 7,960,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,673,789,448.20. This trade represents a 0.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 86,500 shares of company stock valued at $17,824,451. 38.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Morningstar by 11.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 183,575 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $31,033,000 after purchasing an additional 19,264 shares in the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Morningstar during the 2nd quarter worth about $846,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth about $6,534,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 176.5% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 35,185 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $7,629,000 after buying an additional 22,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fluent Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 150.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fluent Financial LLC now owns 14,362 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,241,000 after acquiring an additional 8,618 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morningstar Company Profile

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.

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