Insider Selling: Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Sells $2,233,073.80 in Stock

Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 7,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.30, for a total value of $2,233,073.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 10,733,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,201,900,295.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Morningstar Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ MORN opened at $299.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Morningstar, Inc. has a 52 week low of $185.15 and a 52 week high of $316.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.44 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $302.11 and its 200 day moving average is $284.14.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The business services provider reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter. Morningstar had a return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 10.13%. The company had revenue of $542.80 million for the quarter.

Morningstar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. Morningstar’s payout ratio is currently 32.73%.

Institutional Trading of Morningstar

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morningstar by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,576,670 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $737,546,000 after buying an additional 23,812 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,957,310 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $458,481,000 after purchasing an additional 19,119 shares in the last quarter. Bamco Inc. NY boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 8.0% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,326,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $310,745,000 after purchasing an additional 98,191 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,075,731 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $307,917,000 after purchasing an additional 67,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 5.3% during the first quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 562,099 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $173,334,000 after purchasing an additional 28,164 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MORN. StockNews.com upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. TheStreet upgraded Morningstar from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd.

About Morningstar

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.