AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Sells 81,385 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd decreased its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,566,821 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 81,385 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $68,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 26,535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in Mosaic by 32.1% during the third quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,687,000 after buying an additional 668,347 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Mosaic in the third quarter worth about $205,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Mosaic by 4.4% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 37,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $991,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 87.2% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 70,314 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,878,000 after purchasing an additional 32,745 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MOS. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Mosaic from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.11.

Mosaic Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MOS traded down $0.24 on Thursday, hitting $26.93. 552,403 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,326,491. The company has a market cap of $8.66 billion, a PE ratio of 11.56, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.18. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $24.11 and a 52 week high of $38.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.92% and a net margin of 2.01%. The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 35.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $1,111,354.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,821,628.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total transaction of $346,035.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 34,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $938,687.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $1,111,354.08. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,821,628.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

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.