WINTON GROUP Ltd Purchases New Stake in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Key Points

• WINTON GROUP Ltd disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Morningstar, buying 30,067 shares worth about $6.5 million, or roughly 0.07% of the company.
• Morningstar reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $3.18 versus estimates of $2.41 and revenue of $644.8 million versus expectations of $626.9 million.
• Analyst views are mixed: BMO cut its price target to $193, UBS set a $280 target, and the consensus rating remains Hold with a $236.50 target price.

WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 30,067 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,534,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd owned approximately 0.07% of Morningstar at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in Morningstar in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Morningstar in the second quarter valued at $29,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Morningstar in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in Morningstar by 120.5% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morningstar News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Morningstar this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morningstar’s high-profile valuation of SpaceX has generated heavy media coverage and may boost visibility for MORN as a credible independent research provider. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Morningstar stock crossed above its 200-day moving average, a technical signal that can attract momentum buyers and suggest improving trend strength. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple articles repeated Morningstar’s view that SpaceX is significantly overvalued, keeping MORN in the news but not directly changing its fundamentals. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morningstar also published commentary on broader market topics, including single-stock turbulence and political fraud claims, which appears more informational than stock-moving for MORN. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MORN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Morningstar from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morningstar from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $236.50.

Morningstar Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $185.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar, Inc. has a 1-year low of $149.08 and a 1-year high of $316.71. The company's fifty day moving average is $176.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 8,114,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,348,872,005.16. 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 accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 64,720 shares of company stock worth $11,169,471 in the last three months. 38.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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