Duality Advisers LP Acquires New Shares in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 14,161 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,053,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MORN. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 42.7% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 284 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $52,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 25.6% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 15,157 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,549,000 after acquiring an additional 3,085 shares in the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $234,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company's stock.

Morningstar Trading Down 0.9 %

MORN traded down $2.60 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $300.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 120,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 127,883. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $300.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $279.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $12.84 billion, a PE ratio of 91.59 and a beta of 1.15. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.28 and a twelve month high of $316.05.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The business services provider reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $538.70 million during the quarter. Morningstar had a return on equity of 18.54% and a net margin of 6.92%.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Morningstar's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 6,926 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.39, for a total transaction of $1,935,055.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 10,934,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,055,125,738.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 6,926 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.39, for a total transaction of $1,935,055.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 10,934,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,055,125,738.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,668 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.69, for a total value of $2,136,994.92. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 10,916,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,042,233,269.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 95,544 shares of company stock worth $27,733,515. Insiders own 37.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MORN. TheStreet raised Morningstar from a "c" rating to a "b" rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Morningstar from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th.

Morningstar Profile

Morningstar, Inc provides independent investment insights in the United States, Asia. Australia, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in five segments: Morningstar Data and Analytics; PitchBook; Morningstar Wealth; Morningstar Credit; and Morningstar Retirement.