Form 8-K - Current report

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

______________________________

FORM 8-K

______________________________

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): June 18, 2024

MORNINGSTAR, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Illinois

(State or other jurisdiction

of incorporation)

000-51280

(Commission

File Number)

36-3297908

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

22 West Washington Street

Chicago, Illinois

(Address of principal executive offices)

60602

(Zip Code)

(312) 696-6000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

N/A

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

__________________________________

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

o Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

o Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company ¨

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of Each Class	Trading Symbol	Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common stock, no par value	MORN	The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Item 8.01 Other Events.

On June 18, 2024, Morningstar, Inc. issued a press release announcing that its Board of Directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of 40.5 cents per share payable July 31, 2024 to shareholders of record as of July 12, 2024. A copy of the press release is filed as Exhibit 99.1 to this Form 8-K.

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

Include the following information:

(d) Exhibits:


Exhibit No.						Description
99.1						Press Release dated June 18, 2024
104						The cover page from this Current Report on Form 8-K formatted in Inline XBRL (included as Exhibit 101).

_____________________________________________________________________________________

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.


						MORNINGSTAR, INC.
Date: June 18, 2024						By:/s/ Jason Dubinsky
						Name: Jason Dubinsky
						Title: Chief Financial Officer

1 of 2 Media Contact: Landon Hudson, +1 312 696-6037 or newsroom@morningstar.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Morningstar, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of 40.5 Cents Per Share CHICAGO, June 18, 2024— The board of directors of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment insights, today declared a quarterly dividend of 40.5 cents per share, consistent with the dividend paid in April. The dividend is payable July 31, 2024, to shareholders of record as of July 12, 2024. Please contact investors@morningstar.com with any questions. About Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The Company offers an extensive line of products and solutions that serve a wide range of market participants, including individual and institutional investors in public and private capital markets, financial advisors and wealth managers, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and issuers of fixed-income securities. 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 $294 billion in AUMA as of March 31, 2024. The Company operates through wholly- or majority-owned subsidiaries in 32 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/ company. Follow Morningstar on X (formerly known as 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 “consider,” “future,” “maintain,” “may,” “expect,” “potential,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “will,” or the negative thereof, and similar expressions. 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; failure to prevent and/or mitigate cybersecurity events and the failure to protect confidential information, including personal information about individuals; compliance failures, regulatory action, or changes in laws applicable to our credit ratings operations, investment advisory, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and index businesses; failing to innovate our product and service offerings, or anticipate our clients’ changing needs; the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies on our business, legal and regulatory exposure

2 of 2 profile and reputation; failing to detect errors in our products or the failure of our products to perform properly due to defects, malfunctions or similar problems; failing to recruit, develop, and retain qualified employees; prolonged volatility or downturns affecting the financial sector, global financial markets, and the global economy and its effect on our revenue from asset-based fees and our credit ratings business; failing to scale our operations and increase productivity in order to implement our business plans and strategies; liability for any losses that result from errors in our automated advisory tools or errors in the use of the information and data we collect; inadequacy of our operational risk management, business continuity programs and insurance coverage in the event of a material disruptive event; failing to efficiently integrate and leverage acquisitions and other investments, which may not realize the expected business or financial benefits, to produce the results we anticipate; 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 potential adverse effect of our indebtedness on our cash flows and financial and operational flexibility; challenges in accounting for tax complexities in the global jurisdictions which we operate in and their effect on our tax obligations and tax rates; and failing to protect our intellectual property rights or claims of intellectual property infringement against us. A more complete description of these risks and uncertainties, among others, can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our most recent Reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. 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, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. You are advised to review any further disclosures we make on related subjects, and about new or additional risks, uncertainties and assumptions in our future filings with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. # # # ©2024 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. MORN-C

Cover	Jun. 18, 2024
Entity Information [Line Items]
Document Period End Date	Jun. 18, 2024
Entity Registrant Name	MORNINGSTAR, INC.
Entity Incorporation, State or Country Code	IL
Entity File Number	000-51280
Entity Tax Identification Number	36-3297908
Entity Address, State or Province	IL
Entity Address, Address Line One	22 West Washington Street
Entity Address, City or Town	Chicago
Entity Address, Postal Zip Code	60602
Local Phone Number	696-6000
City Area Code	312
Written Communications	false
Soliciting Material	false
Pre-commencement Tender Offer	false
Pre-commencement Issuer Tender Offer	false
Entity Emerging Growth Company	false
Title of 12(b) Security	Common stock, no par value
Trading Symbol	MORN
Security Exchange Name	NASDAQ
Document Type	8-K
Entity Central Index Key	0001289419
Amendment Flag	false