Dearborn Partners LLC Buys Shares of 1,058 Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Dearborn Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,058 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&G Plc increased its stake in Morningstar by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 173,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,239,000 after buying an additional 3,322 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Morningstar in the first quarter valued at about $1,207,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Morningstar by 295.4% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $9,366,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in Morningstar by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 17,696 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,997 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MORN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group began coverage on Morningstar in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price target on the stock. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $352.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morningstar has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $360.67.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,825 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.05, for a total transaction of $1,342,766.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 10,791,380 shares in the company, valued at $3,788,313,949. The trade was a 0.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William M. Lyons sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.88, for a total transaction of $248,910.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,840 shares in the company, valued at $4,261,339.20. The trade was a 5.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 71,195 shares of company stock valued at $23,252,260. 39.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morningstar Stock Down 1.6 %

MORN opened at $337.57 on Friday. Morningstar, Inc. has a one year low of $264.79 and a one year high of $352.55. The company has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.59 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s fifty day moving average is $328.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $310.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $569.40 million during the quarter. Morningstar had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 23.28%.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.40%.

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.