Farther Finance Advisors LLC Acquires 225 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 123.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 407 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $137,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Morningstar by 9.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,201,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $383,489,000 after purchasing an additional 102,206 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Morningstar by 0.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 950,512 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,327,000 after purchasing an additional 5,158 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Morningstar by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 804,293 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $256,666,000 after purchasing an additional 28,698 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Morningstar by 13.9% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 696,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $222,115,000 after purchasing an additional 85,098 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Morningstar by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 497,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $158,772,000 after purchasing an additional 10,437 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Morningstar news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,635 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.44, for a total transaction of $1,182,974.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 10,142,694 shares in the company, valued at $3,300,838,335.36. The trade was a 0.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 59,544 shares of company stock worth $18,770,097. Corporate insiders own 39.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MORN. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Morningstar from $387.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

Morningstar Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MORN stock opened at $295.70 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12-month low of $278.64 and a 12-month high of $365.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $316.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $328.10. The company has a market capitalization of $12.67 billion, a PE ratio of 39.06 and a beta of 1.23.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.15. Morningstar had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 23.28%. The company had revenue of $591.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $580.81 million.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.455 dividend. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Morningstar’s payout ratio is presently 21.24%.

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.