Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 127 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORNFree Report) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MORN. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 154.0% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 320,186 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $94,727,000 after purchasing an additional 194,122 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,201,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,489,000 after acquiring an additional 102,206 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 696,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $222,115,000 after acquiring an additional 85,098 shares during the last quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $19,666,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Morningstar by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 400,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $127,814,000 after acquiring an additional 39,263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MORN shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Morningstar in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $390.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $360.67.

Get Our Latest Report on MORN

Morningstar Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of MORN stock opened at $328.77 on Friday. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12-month low of $269.51 and a 12-month high of $365.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $340.03 and a 200-day moving average of $327.29. The company has a market capitalization of $14.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.43 and a beta of 1.20.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORNGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.01 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $569.40 million for the quarter. Morningstar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 14.69%.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.455 dividend. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This is a positive change from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In related news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 9,062 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.22, for a total transaction of $2,974,329.64. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 10,845,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,559,781,561.96. This represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jason Dubinsky sold 3,223 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.88, for a total value of $1,137,332.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,106,235.52. This trade represents a 15.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,661 shares of company stock worth $17,723,744. Corporate insiders own 39.90% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN)

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