Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar (MORN) from "hold" to "buy", though analyst sentiment is mixed—Weiss cut to a "sell", BMO lowered its price target to $193, UBS set $280, and MarketBeat's consensus remains a "Hold" with an average target of $236.50.
• Strong quarterly results: Morningstar reported EPS of $3.18 versus $2.41 expected and revenue of $644.8M versus $626.9M, with a 33.14% return on equity and a 16.06% net margin.
• Notable insider activity: Chairman Joseph Mansueto sold 3,122 shares while CFO Michael Holt bought 1,000 shares; insiders own 38.8% of the stock and institutional investors own about 57.0%.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Saturday.

MORN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group set a $280.00 target price on Morningstar in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morningstar presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $236.50.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of MORN opened at $169.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company's fifty day moving average price is $176.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $196.61. Morningstar has a 1-year low of $149.08 and a 1-year high of $316.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a return on equity of 33.14% and a net margin of 16.06%.The company had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million.

Insider Activity

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,122 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.32, for a total transaction of $569,203.04. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,138,232 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,483,762,458.24. This trade represents a 0.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Michael Holt acquired 1,000 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $186.59 per share, with a total value of $186,590.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,768,873.20. The trade was a 11.79% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 84,643 shares of company stock worth $14,088,066 over the last ninety days. 38.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC purchased a new stake in Morningstar during the third quarter worth $26,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Morningstar during the second quarter valued at $29,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Morningstar during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased 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 buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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