SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Stake in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 211.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,937 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,847 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned about 0.12% of Morningstar worth $7,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 74,541 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,199,000 after buying an additional 8,424 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Morningstar in the third quarter valued at about $1,713,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Morningstar by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 71,033 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,436,000 after buying an additional 10,794 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Morningstar by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 318,478 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $73,891,000 after acquiring an additional 82,154 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 37.8% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 25,437 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,902,000 after acquiring an additional 6,972 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MORN. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on Morningstar in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 target price on shares of Morningstar in a report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $234.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Morningstar Stock Up 9.1%

MORN stock opened at $154.73 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 1.00. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $141.49 and a 12 month high of $316.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.77. Morningstar had a return on equity of 33.14% and a net margin of 16.06%.The firm had revenue of $644.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $626.91 million.

About Morningstar

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.