Wall Street Zen Upgrades Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) to “Buy”

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Morningstar from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on Morningstar in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.67.

Morningstar Stock Performance

Shares of MORN stock opened at $153.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar has a one year low of $149.08 and a one year high of $316.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $176.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.15.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a net margin of 16.06% and a return on equity of 33.14%. The company had revenue of $644.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.91 million.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.23, for a total transaction of $1,205,167.50. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 8,114,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,348,872,005.16. The trade was a 0.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 64,720 shares of company stock valued at $11,169,471 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 38.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morningstar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Morningstar by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 178 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 3,838 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,151,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Morningstar by 278.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 2,450.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of Morningstar by 58.8% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 138,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,615,000 after buying an additional 51,449 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Company 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.