Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Purchases 22,459 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Key Points

• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans sharply increased its Morningstar stake by 176.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 22,459 additional shares to own 35,185 shares worth about $7.63 million.
• Morningstar has seen mixed but generally supportive fundamental news: its latest earnings beat expectations on both EPS and revenue, and it also launched a new Corporate Credit Analytics toolset aimed at private credit analysis.
• Sentiment is being tempered by insider selling from chairman Joseph D. Mansueto and by the stock’s technical weakness, with shares trading below both the 50-day and 200-day moving averages despite a recent 0.4% gain.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN - Free Report) by 176.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,185 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 22,459 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.09% of Morningstar worth $7,629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 3.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Morningstar by 278.2% during 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 in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 51,449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company's stock.

Morningstar News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Morningstar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morningstar Credit Analytics launched Corporate Credit Analytics, a new toolset aimed at improving transparency and consistency in private credit analysis, which could support longer-term demand for the company’s analytics offerings. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s chairman, Joseph D. Mansueto, disclosed multiple pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 sales over May 18-20. While these are routine insider transactions, they can still weigh on sentiment because investors often interpret repeated executive selling cautiously.
• Neutral Sentiment: Morningstar’s recent earnings remained strong, with the company reporting EPS and revenue above expectations and posting solid profitability metrics. That background provides some support for the stock even as shares remain below their 50-day and 200-day averages.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ MORN opened at $172.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57 and a beta of 0.99. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $175.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $192.42. Morningstar, Inc. has a one year low of $149.08 and a one year high of $316.71.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total transaction of $1,205,167.50. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,114,492 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,348,872,005.16. This trade represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 85,980 shares of company stock worth $14,725,012. Company insiders own 38.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Morningstar from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $236.50.

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.

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