Pacer Advisors Inc. Purchases 3,410 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 279.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,630 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,410 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $1,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MORN. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Morningstar by 270.3% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 137 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. MAI Capital Management lifted its stake in Morningstar by 37.8% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 153 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Morningstar by 23.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Morningstar during the second quarter valued at about $57,000. 57.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. BMO Capital Markets set a $250.00 price objective on Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Morningstar from $350.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.00.

Morningstar Price Performance

Shares of MORN stock opened at $217.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Morningstar, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $202.89 and a fifty-two week high of $339.99. The firm has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.72 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $214.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.61.

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

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Morningstar

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.95, for a total value of $1,536,637.50. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 64,350 shares of company stock valued at $13,668,311 over the last ninety days. 36.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morningstar Profile

Morningstar, Inc is a leading provider of independent investment research, data, and analytics, serving both individual investors and financial professionals. The company offers comprehensive coverage of financial products, including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stocks, bonds and market indexes. Morningstar’s proprietary rating systems and research methodologies help clients assess the risk and return profiles of investment opportunities and make informed decisions.

Its core products include Morningstar Direct, an institutional investment analysis platform; Morningstar Office Cloud, a portfolio management solution for advisors; and Morningstar Data, which delivers extensive datasets through APIs and data feeds.