Arizona State Retirement System Has $2.72 Million Position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $2,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Morningstar by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,201,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $383,489,000 after buying an additional 102,206 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Morningstar by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 696,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $222,115,000 after acquiring an additional 85,098 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Morningstar by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 400,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $127,814,000 after acquiring an additional 39,263 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morningstar by 61.3% during the third quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 88,378 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,203,000 after acquiring an additional 33,595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MORN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Morningstar from $387.00 to $370.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Insider Activity at Morningstar

In other news, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 3,635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.44, for a total value of $1,182,974.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 10,142,694 shares in the company, valued at $3,300,838,335.36. This trade represents a 0.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $1,137,332.24. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 17,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,106,235.52. This trade represents a 15.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 53,703 shares of company stock worth $17,349,106 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 39.90% of the company’s stock.

Morningstar Trading Down 2.0 %

MORN opened at $290.65 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $12.45 billion, a PE ratio of 38.40 and a beta of 1.23. 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 twelve month low of $281.37 and a twelve month high of $365.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $323.48 and a 200-day moving average of $329.78.

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

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. This is a positive change from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Morningstar’s payout ratio is currently 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.