Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $1.13 Million in Morningstar, Inc. $MORN

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 6,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,133,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MORN. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Morningstar by 85.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,213 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $246,910,000 after acquiring an additional 523,387 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 106.9% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 608,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $141,119,000 after purchasing an additional 314,275 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Morningstar in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,367,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 1,196.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 260,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,713,000 after purchasing an additional 240,848 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 362.8% in the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 187,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $43,416,000 after purchasing an additional 146,693 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 2,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.72, for a total value of $401,154.40. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 8,043,492 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,445,906.24. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director William M. Lyons sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.00, for a total value of $125,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,488,816. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,720 shares of company stock valued at $11,169,471. 38.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $210.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered Morningstar from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $212.00 price objective on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $234.00.

Morningstar Stock Performance

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $165.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $172.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $182.97. Morningstar, Inc. has a twelve month low of $141.49 and a twelve month high of $312.65.

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

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.