CHICAGO, April 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc., (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today announced that Michael Holt, CFA, has been named global head of equity and corporate credit research. He leads a global research team of approximately 120 analysts and strategists in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and is responsible for standardizing and enhancing Morningstar's equity and corporate credit methodologies globally. Based in Chicago, Holt reports to Haywood Kelly, Morningstar's head of global research.

"Mike is an outstanding steward of our methodology and approach to evaluating stocks. He has made significant contributions in the various roles he's held at Morningstar, and I'm confident he'll be a strong leader for our equity and corporate credit team globally," Kelly said. "Equity and corporate credit research is a key area for us as we continue to expand our analyst staff and enhance our coverage around the world. We continuously strive to enrich our data, research, and ratings to help both equity and debt investors make better financial decisions."

Holt is a member of Morningstar's Economic Moat committee, a group of senior members of the equity research team responsible for reviewing all Economic Moat™ and Moat Trend™ ratings issued by Morningstar. He joined Morningstar in 2008 as an equity analyst and became a senior analyst in 2009. Holt then served as associate director, co-managing the technology equity research team. In 2012, he was named director of North American equity research, managing a team of 70 analysts. Before joining Morningstar, Holt was as an associate with Municipal Mortgage & Equity and spent four years in the software industry.

Holt holds a bachelor's degree in business from Indiana University and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) designation.

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 retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on approximately 446,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 10 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 had approximately $159 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Dec. 31, 2013. The company has operations in 27 countries.

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.