CHICAGO, Dec. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The board of
directors of Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider
of independent investment research, today declared a quarterly
dividend of 10 cents per share—an
increase over the quarterly dividend of 5
cents per share the company has paid since it began dividend
payments in the first quarter of 2011. The dividend is payable
Jan. 31, 2012 to shareholders of
record as of Jan. 13, 2012. While
subsequent dividends will be subject to board approval, the company
expects to pay additional dividends on the following schedule:
Record
Date
|
Payable
Date
|
April 13,
2012
|
April 30,
2012
|
July 13,
2012
|
July 31,
2012
|
Oct. 12,
2012
|
Oct. 31,
2012
|
Jan. 11,
2013
|
Jan. 31,
2013
|
Morningstar's board also has approved an increase to the
$100 million share repurchase program
it announced in October 2010. The
board approval authorizes the company to repurchase up to an
additional $200 million in shares of
the company's outstanding common stock. The company said it may
repurchase shares from time to time at prevailing market prices on
the open market or in private transactions in amounts that
management deems appropriate, and has repurchased a total of
792,526 shares for $44.1 million as
of Nov. 30, 2011.
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent
investment research in North
America, Europe,
Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of
products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and
institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 330,000
investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar
vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 5
million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and
precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury
markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services
through its registered investment advisor subsidiaries and has more
than $167 billion in assets under
advisement and management as of Sept. 30,
2011. The company has operations in 26 countries.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term
is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These statements are based on our current expectations about future
events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements
by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees,
uncertain, and often contain words such as "may," "could,"
"expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "predict," "potential," or "continue." These statements
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause
the events we discuss not to occur or to differ significantly from
what we expect. For us, these risks and uncertainties include,
among others, general industry conditions and competition,
including ongoing economic weakness and uncertainty; the effect of
market volatility on revenue from asset-based fees; damage to our
reputation resulting from claims made about possible conflicts of
interest; liability for any losses that result from an actual or
claimed breach of our fiduciary duties; the increasing
concentration of data and development work carried out at our
offshore facilities in China and
India; failing to differentiate
our products and continuously create innovative, proprietary
research tools; failing to successfully integrate acquisitions;
challenges faced by our non-U.S. operations; and a prolonged outage
of our database and network facilities. A more complete description
of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our other filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010. If any of these risks and
uncertainties materialize, our actual future results may vary
significantly from what we expect. We do not undertake to update
our forward-looking statements as a result of new information or
future events.
©2011 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
MORN-C
Media Contact:
Margaret Kirch Cohen, 312-696-6383
or margaret.cohen@morningstar.com
SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.