Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning.

Morningstar Stock Down 0.1 %

MORN opened at $328.45 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $331.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $329.41. Morningstar has a 52 week low of $269.51 and a 52 week 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 stock has a market cap of $14.08 billion, a PE ratio of 43.39 and a beta of 1.20.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. This is an increase from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Morningstar’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jason Dubinsky sold 3,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.88, for a total value of $1,137,332.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,106,235.52. This represents a 15.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 1,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.57, for a total transaction of $410,329.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 10,130,378 shares in the company, valued at $3,247,495,275.46. This represents a 0.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,106 shares of company stock valued at $7,878,540 over the last three months. 37.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the fourth quarter valued at $111,694,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,584,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Morningstar during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,694,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,080,599 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $363,903,000 after acquiring an additional 130,087 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 9.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,201,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,489,000 after acquiring an additional 102,206 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Company 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.