8-K

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):  December 14, 2018

MORNINGSTAR, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Illinois	000-51280	36-3297908
(State or other jurisdiction	(Commission	(I.R.S. Employer
of incorporation)	File Number)	Identification No.)

22 West Washington Street
Chicago, Illinois	60602
(Address of principal executive offices)	(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:

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

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

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

oPre-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 o

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. o

Item 8.01.  Other Events.

On December 14, 2018, Morningstar issued a press release announcing that its Board of Directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of 28 cents per share payable January 31, 2019 to shareholders of record as of January 4, 2019.  A copy of the press release is filed as Exhibit 99.1 to this Form 8-K.

Item 9.01.  Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d)Exhibits:

Exhibit No.	Description
99.1	Press Release dated December 14, 2018 regarding quarterly dividend.

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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: December 17, 2018	By:	/s/ Jason Dubinsky
	Name:	Jason Dubinsky
	Title:	Chief Financial Officer

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EX-99.1

Exhibit 99.1

Media Contact:

Sarah Wirth, +1 312 244-7358 or sarah.wirth@morningstar.com

Investor Relations Contact:

Barbara Noverini, CFA, +1 312 696-6164 or barbara.noverini@morningstar.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Morningstar, Inc. Increases Annualized Dividend by 12 Percent

CHICAGO, Dec. 14, 2018—The board of directors of Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today declared a quarterly dividend of 28 cents per share. The dividend is payable Jan. 31, 2019 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 4, 2019. The 12 percent increase from the prior quarterly rate of 25 cents per share results in an annualized dividend of $1.12 per share compared with the prior annualized rate of $1.00 per share.

While subsequent dividends will be subject to board approval, the company expects to pay three additional dividends in 2019:

Record Date	Payable Date
April 5, 2019	April 30, 2019
July 5, 2019	July 31, 2019
October 18, 2019	October 31, 2019

“Thanks to continued momentum in our business, we’ve been able to provide investors with a dividend increase every year since its introduction in 2010. As we continue to grow organically, we’re confident in our ability to return healthy levels of capital to shareholders through both dividends and opportunistic share buybacks,” said Kunal Kapoor, chief executive officer of Morningstar.

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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, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the 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, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $207 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2018. The company has operations in 27 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,” “prospects,” 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, liability for any losses that result from an actual or claimed breach of our fiduciary duties; failing to maintain and protect our brand, independence, and reputation; failing to differentiate our products and continuously create innovative, proprietary research tools; failing to respond to technological change, keep pace with new technology developments, or adopt a successful technology strategy; trends in the asset management industry, including the increasing popularity of passively managed investment vehicles; inadequacy in our business continuity program in the event of a material emergency or adverse political or regulatory developments; liability related to the storage of personal information related to individuals as well as portfolio and account-level information; compliance failures, regulatory action, or changes in laws applicable to our investment advisory or credit rating operations; an outage of our database, technology-based products and services, or network facilities or the movement of parts of our technology infrastructure to the public cloud; downturns in the financial sector, global markets, and global economy; the effect of market volatility on revenue from asset-based fees; the failure of acquisitions and other investments to produce the results we anticipate; the failure to recruit, develop, and retain qualified employees; challenges faced by our non-U.S. operations, including the concentration of data and development work at our offshore facilities in China and India; liability relating to the acquisition or redistribution of data or information we acquire or errors included therein; 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017. If any of these risks and uncertainties materialize, our actual future results may vary significantly from what we expected. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events.

©2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MORN-C

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