Investors Buy High Volume of Mosaic Call Options (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 15,614 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 77% compared to the typical volume of 8,822 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 110.8% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Mosaic in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Tobam acquired a new position in Mosaic in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 180,900.0% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho increased their target price on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, CIBC began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.80.

Mosaic Stock Performance

NYSE MOS opened at $28.22 on Wednesday. Mosaic has a fifty-two week low of $23.56 and a fifty-two week high of $33.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.97, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.66.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.34%.

Mosaic Company 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.