CHICAGO, Dec. 6, 2022
/PRNewswire/ -- The board of directors of Morningstar, Inc.
(Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment
research, today declared a quarterly dividend of 37.5 cents per share, an increase of 4.2 percent.
The dividend is payable Jan. 31,
2023, to shareholders of record as of Jan. 6, 2023. The 1.5
cent increase from the prior quarterly rate of 36 cents per share results in an annualized
dividend of $1.50 per share compared
with the prior annualized rate of $1.44 per share.
While subsequent dividends will be subject to board approval,
the company expects to pay three additional dividends in 2022:
Record
Date
|
|
Payable
Date
|
April 7,
2023
|
|
April 28,
2023
|
July 7, 2023
|
|
July 31,
2023
|
Oct. 6, 2023
|
|
Oct. 31,
2023
|
Morningstar's board also approved a new three-year share
repurchase program that authorizes the Company to repurchase up to
$500 million in shares of the
Company's outstanding common stock, effective Jan. 1, 2023. This new repurchase program will
replace the existing program, which came into effect on
Jan. 1, 2021. The share repurchase
authorization permits the Company to repurchase shares from time to
time at prevailing market prices on the open market or in private
transactions in amounts that management deems appropriate. Please
contact investors@morningstar.com with any questions.
"We are pleased with our track record of dividend increases and
the approval of a new share repurchase program. We continue to
focus on prudent capital allocation through investment in our
business and returning cash to shareholders," said Kunal Kapoor, chief executive officer of
Morningstar.
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 individual investors, financial advisors,
asset managers and owners, retirement plan providers and sponsors,
and institutional investors in the debt and private capital
markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide
range of investment offerings, including managed investment
products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, debt
securities, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also
offers investment management services through its investment
advisory subsidiaries, with approximately $239 billion in assets under advisement and
management as of Sept. 30, 2022. The
Company has operations in 29 countries. For more information, visit
www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter
@MorningstarInc.
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, failing to maintain and protect our brand,
independence, and reputation; liability related to cybersecurity
and the protection of confidential information, including personal
information about individuals; liability for any losses that result
from an actual or claimed breach of our fiduciary duties or failure
to comply with applicable securities laws; compliance failures,
regulatory action, or changes in laws applicable to our credit
ratings operations, or our investment advisory, ESG, and index
businesses; failing to respond to technological change, keep pace
with new technology developments, or adopt a successful technology
strategy; the failure to recruit, develop, and retain qualified
employees and compensation expense associated with these activities
in a period of inflation and rising wage scales in the markets
where we operate; inadequacy of our operational risk management and
business continuity programs in the event of a material disruptive
event, including an outage of our database, technology-based
products and services or network facilities; failing to
differentiate our products and services and continuously create
innovative, proprietary, and insightful financial technology
solutions; prolonged volatility or downturns affecting the
financial sector, global financial markets, and global economy and
its effect on our revenue from asset-based fees and credit ratings
business; failing to maintain growth across our businesses in
today's fragmented geopolitical, regulatory and cultural world;
liability relating to the information and data we collect, store,
use, create, and distribute or the reports that we publish or are
produced by our software products; the failure of acquisitions and
other investments to be efficiently integrated and produce the
results we anticipate; the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic
and government actions in response thereto on our business,
financial condition, and results of operations; challenges faced by
our non-U.S. operations, including the concentration of data and
development work at our offshore facilities in China and India; our indebtedness could adversely affect
our cash flows and financial flexibility; and the failure to
protect our intellectual property rights or claims of intellectual
property infringement against us. A more complete description of
these risks and uncertainties can be found in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent
Annual Report on Form 10-K. If any of these risks and uncertainties
materialize, our actual future results and other
future events 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.
©2022 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
MORN-C
Media Contact:
Landon Hudson, +1 312 696-6037 or
newsroom@morningstar.com
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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.