Raymond James & Associates Lowers Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Raymond James & Associates reduced its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 32.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,879 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. State Street Corp increased its position in Mosaic by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,316,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $794,460,000 after purchasing an additional 81,245 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,792,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $313,020,000 after buying an additional 268,966 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mosaic by 2.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,230,422 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $332,410,000 after acquiring an additional 160,329 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the first quarter valued at $412,663,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,107,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $217,429,000 after purchasing an additional 424,063 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MOS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. TheStreet cut shares of Mosaic from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Mosaic from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Mosaic from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.27.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.6 %

Mosaic stock opened at $30.47 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $31.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.48. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $29.25 and a 52 week high of $45.97. The stock has a market cap of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 8.51%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.07%.

About Mosaic

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.