The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,940,000 shares, a growth of 36.1% from the March 31st total of 5,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,790,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MOS. TheStreet cut Mosaic from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Scotiabank raised shares of Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Mosaic from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $42.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Mizuho downgraded Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.27.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MOS. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 100.5% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Mosaic during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Mosaic by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 526.1% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the third quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MOS opened at $30.25 on Friday. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $29.25 and a 12-month high of $43.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.50.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.11). Mosaic had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 8.51%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. 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.