2,081,736 Shares in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN Acquired by BlackRock Inc.

BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,081,736 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $324,792,000. BlackRock Inc. owned about 5.55% of Morningstar at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Morningstar by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in Morningstar by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,151,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Morningstar by 278.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Morningstar by 2,450.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in Morningstar by 58.8% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $43,615,000 after acquiring an additional 51,449 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 21st. UBS Group cut their price target on Morningstar from $280.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Morningstar from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 target price on Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $227.33.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,906 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $210.26, for a total transaction of $1,662,315.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 7,960,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,673,789,448.20. The trade was a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 86,500 shares of company stock worth $17,824,451 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 38.80% of the company's stock.

Morningstar Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Morningstar stock opened at $212.44 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $141.49 and a fifty-two week high of $265.73. The company has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12 and a beta of 0.99.

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

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source