Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Decreases Stake in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Key Points

• Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS reduced its stake in Morningstar by 40.6%, selling 9,449 shares and finishing the quarter with 13,827 shares valued at $3.005 million.
• Company insiders have been net sellers—Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,304 shares and insiders sold a total of 84,643 shares worth about $14.09 million last quarter—though insiders still own 38.80% of the stock.
• Morningstar beat the latest quarter's expectations with $3.18 EPS (vs. $2.41 est.) and $644.8M revenue (vs. $626.9M est.), but analyst sentiment is mixed with a consensus "Hold" and an average target of $236.50.

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS reduced its position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN - Free Report) by 40.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,827 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 9,449 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS's holdings in Morningstar were worth $3,005,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MORN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Morningstar by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in Morningstar by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,151,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in Morningstar by 278.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Morningstar by 2,450.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in Morningstar by 58.8% in 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 buying an additional 51,449 shares during the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MORN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group set a $280.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Morningstar from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $236.50.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,304 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $1,173,241.52. Following the sale, the chairman owned 8,184,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,314,629,973.56. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 84,643 shares of company stock worth $14,088,066 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 38.80% of the company's stock.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of MORN stock opened at $169.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.03. Morningstar, Inc. has a one year low of $149.08 and a one year high of $316.71. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $176.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $196.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 33.14%. The business had revenue of $644.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $626.91 million.

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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