Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOSFree Report) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 180,900.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Mosaic during the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Mosaic by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 23.2% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 85.2% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on MOS shares. CIBC started coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Barclays downgraded Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.82.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Mosaic

Mosaic Trading Up 3.5 %

NYSE:MOS opened at $28.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $23.56 and a one year high of $33.44. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.70.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOSGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.34%.

Mosaic Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Mosaic (NYSE:MOS)

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