Morningstar, Inc.: management transactions · United States · SEC (Form 4)

About Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights and financial data, listed on the NASDAQ in the United States (United States) under the ticker MORN. The company was founded in 1984 by Joe Mansueto in Chicago, Illinois, where it remains headquartered today. Starting from an original focus on mutual fund analysis, Morningstar has evolved into a broader financial information and software platform serving investors and professionals across public markets, private markets, and credit. For international investors, Morningstar’s business model is built around several interconnected revenue streams. The company provides proprietary research on equities and funds, investment data, portfolio analytics, advisor software, market and index solutions, and credit-related services. It also has a growing footprint in private capital intelligence through PitchBook, as well as ESG and sustainability data through Sustainalytics. This mix positions Morningstar as a diversified financial infrastructure and intelligence provider rather than a pure research publisher. Morningstar’s competitive position is anchored in three long-standing advantages: trusted independent research, deep and structured datasets, and strong product integration into adviser and institutional workflows. The brand is especially well known for fund ratings, portfolio analysis frameworks, and investor-friendly analytics. Over time, however, the company has broadened its scope well beyond mutual funds, creating a more durable and scalable platform across wealth management, asset management, banking, insurance, and corporate clients. Geographically, Morningstar operates on a global basis, with a significant presence in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, while its commercial and operational center remains in the United States. That U.S. base is strategically important because Morningstar’s most developed client relationships, product distribution, and capital markets exposure are tied to the American financial ecosystem. At the same time, the company’s international footprint gives it exposure to global investment trends and cross-border demand for independent market intelligence. Recent developments have reinforced Morningstar’s transition toward a more technology-enabled, AI-driven platform. In early 2026, the company reported meaningful growth in revenue, operating income, and free cash flow for 2025, and management highlighted AI as a tool to scale its research and data moat. Morningstar also announced new AI capabilities embedded in its Direct Advisory Suite in March 2026, designed to streamline research, meeting preparation, portfolio analysis, and proposal generation for financial advisers. For equity investors, the key takeaway is that Morningstar is increasingly combining recurring data and software economics with its historical strengths in research and investor education.