Davidson Investment Advisors Grows Stock Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Davidson Investment Advisors grew its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 0.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 147,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the quarter. Davidson Investment Advisors’ holdings in Mosaic were worth $5,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 64,942.3% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,380,407,544 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,314,264,000 after buying an additional 1,378,285,221 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in Mosaic in the 1st quarter worth approximately $412,663,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Mosaic by 910.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,451,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $296,052,000 after buying an additional 4,011,530 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $128,142,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Mosaic by 59.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,815,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $220,949,000 after buying an additional 1,798,118 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.05% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MOS traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $35.99. The company had a trading volume of 1,232,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,053,339. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.50. The stock has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.56. The Mosaic Company has a 12 month low of $31.44 and a 12 month high of $57.46.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $3.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 8.80% and a return on equity of 12.71%. Mosaic’s revenue was down 33.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, December 7th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 20.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on MOS shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $44.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $41.00 to $36.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, September 21st. Finally, HSBC raised Mosaic from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.35.

Mosaic Profile

The Mosaic Company, through its subsidiaries, produces and markets concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients in North America and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Phosphates, Potash, and Mosaic Fertilizantes. It owns and operates mines, which produce concentrated phosphate crop nutrients, such as diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate, and ammoniated phosphate products; and phosphate-based animal feed ingredients primarily under the Biofos and Nexfos brand names, as well as produces a double sulfate of potash magnesia product under K-Mag brand name.