M&T Bank Corp Lowers Stock Position in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN)

M&T Bank Corp cut its holdings in Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:MORN) by 0.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 39 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Morningstar were worth $2,830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MORN. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Morningstar by 19.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 16,563 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,286,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Morningstar by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 4,280 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,366,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in Morningstar by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC now owns 10,615 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,387,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in Morningstar by 80.2% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 2,299 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $734,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Morningstar by 61.3% in the third quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 88,378 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $28,203,000 after acquiring an additional 33,595 shares in the last quarter. 57.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MORN shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $352.00 price target on shares of Morningstar in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Morningstar in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $390.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Morningstar from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $340.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Morningstar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morningstar currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $360.67.

Morningstar Price Performance

NASDAQ MORN opened at $352.91 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $269.51 and a 1-year high of $362.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.60 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $342.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $318.54.

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

Morningstar Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.455 per share. This represents a $1.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This is a positive change from Morningstar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Morningstar’s payout ratio is currently 21.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morningstar news, Director William M. Lyons sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.88, for a total transaction of $248,910.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 12,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,261,339.20. This trade represents a 5.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Joseph D. Mansueto sold 9,062 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.22, for a total value of $2,974,329.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 10,845,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,559,781,561.96. This trade represents a 0.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 49,188 shares of company stock worth $16,823,772 over the last quarter. 39.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morningstar 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.