Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Makes New $702,000 Investment in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,085 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $702,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morningstar by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 497,411 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $158,772,000 after purchasing an additional 10,437 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 191,765 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,196,000 after purchasing an additional 5,045 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,843 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of Morningstar by 259.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 13,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,394,000 after purchasing an additional 9,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Morningstar in the 3rd quarter worth $3,181,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MORN. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Morningstar from $387.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jason Dubinsky sold 3,223 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.88, for a total transaction of $1,137,332.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 17,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,106,235.52. This represents a 15.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 1,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.57, for a total value of $410,329.60. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 10,130,378 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,247,495,275.46. This represents a 0.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,641 shares of company stock valued at $14,620,537 over the last ninety days. 39.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morningstar Price Performance

NASDAQ:MORN opened at $307.00 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $13.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.55 and a beta of 1.20. Morningstar, Inc. has a 12 month low of $281.37 and a 12 month high of $365.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $326.98 and its 200 day moving average is $330.26.

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

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.455 per share. This is a boost from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. Morningstar’s payout ratio is presently 21.24%.

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.