Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires 603 Shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,785 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 603 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.08% of Morningstar worth $10,462,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Morningstar during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,982,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Morningstar by 8.1% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 1,208 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Morningstar in the third quarter worth about $565,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 497,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $158,772,000 after acquiring an additional 10,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 19.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 16,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the period. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MORN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $352.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $390.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $360.67.

Morningstar Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ MORN opened at $355.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.97 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.14. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $269.51 and a 12 month high of $365.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $343.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $319.33.

Morningstar (NASDAQ:MORN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The business services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.01). Morningstar had a return on equity of 23.28% and a net margin of 14.69%. The company had revenue of $569.40 million for the quarter.

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.455 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This is a positive change from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Morningstar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William M. Lyons sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.48, for a total transaction of $237,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 13,590 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,300,963.20. This trade represents a 5.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Jason Dubinsky sold 3,223 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.88, for a total transaction of $1,137,332.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,304 shares in the company, valued at $6,106,235.52. This represents a 15.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 52,411 shares of company stock valued at $17,961,104. Insiders own 39.90% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Company Profile

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.