Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Issues Earnings Results

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The business services provider reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.15, Zacks reports. Morningstar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 14.69%.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MORN opened at $324.45 on Thursday. 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 has a 52-week low of $281.37 and a 52-week high of $365.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.86 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $328.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $330.11.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.455 per share. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This is a boost from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,635 shares of Morningstar stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.44, for a total transaction of $1,182,974.40. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 10,142,694 shares in the company, valued at $3,300,838,335.36. The trade was a 0.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jason Dubinsky sold 3,223 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.88, for a total transaction of $1,137,332.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 17,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,106,235.52. This represents a 15.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,561 shares of company stock worth $13,300,821. Corporate insiders own 39.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th.

About Morningstar

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.