Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 12,500 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Bank of Nova Scotia cut its position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 28.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 32,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 12,500 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $10,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,224,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Morningstar by 88.0% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 540,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $162,168,000 after acquiring an additional 253,137 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 266.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 280,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $88,190,000 after acquiring an additional 204,277 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Morningstar by 22,716.4% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 162,681 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $50,512,000 after purchasing an additional 161,968 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,269,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MORN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $350.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morningstar presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.00.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of MORN opened at $216.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62 and a beta of 1.11. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $202.89 and a 12 month high of $365.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $256.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The business services provider reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.13. Morningstar had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 25.07%. The firm had revenue of $617.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $603.29 million.

Morningstar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Friday, October 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.95, for a total value of $1,536,637.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 8,693,565 shares in the company, valued at $1,842,601,101.75. This trade represents a 0.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 63,750 shares of company stock worth $13,537,223 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 36.20% of the company’s stock.

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.