Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $352.80 and last traded at $351.26, with a volume of 67397 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $346.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MORN. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $352.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Morningstar in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price objective on the stock. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morningstar presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $360.67.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $15.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.98 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $334.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $314.24.

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

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Director William M. Lyons sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.48, for a total value of $237,360.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 13,590 shares in the company, valued at $4,300,963.20. This trade represents a 5.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 9,062 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.22, for a total transaction of $3,219,003.64. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 10,738,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,814,431,929.28. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,879 shares of company stock worth $21,672,132 over the last three months. Insiders own 37.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MORN. M&G Plc grew its holdings in Morningstar by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 173,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,239,000 after acquiring an additional 3,322 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the first quarter worth $1,207,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Morningstar by 12.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Morningstar by 295.4% during the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,637 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Morningstar during the 2nd quarter worth $9,366,000. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

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.