Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Morningstar from a "buy" to a "hold"; the stock's consensus rating is now "Hold" with a consensus target of $236.50 while analyst targets range from $193 (BMO) to $280 (UBS) and Weiss recently cut to a "sell."
• Morningstar beat quarterly estimates, reporting EPS of $2.71 vs. $2.34 expected and revenue of $641.1M vs. $634.4M, with a reported ROE of 27.94% and a net margin of 15.3%.
• The stock trades around $184.28 (50‑day MA $172.81 vs. 200‑day MA $199.46) and sits nearer its 52‑week low than high, while insiders—including Chairman Joseph Mansueto—have been selling recently (84,643 shares sold in the last 90 days) despite insiders owning ~38.8% of the company.

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on MORN. UBS Group set a $280.00 price target on Morningstar in a report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Morningstar from $257.00 to $193.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Morningstar from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morningstar presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $236.50.

Morningstar Price Performance

Morningstar stock opened at $184.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Morningstar has a 52 week low of $149.08 and a 52 week high of $316.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $172.81 and a 200-day moving average of $199.46.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The business services provider reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.37. Morningstar had a return on equity of 27.94% and a net margin of 15.30%.The company had revenue of $641.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $634.43 million.

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,304 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $1,173,241.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 8,184,212 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,314,629,973.56. This represents a 0.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 84,643 shares of company stock valued at $14,088,066. 38.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 120.5% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 172 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company's stock.

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.

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.