The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Holdings Lowered by AustralianSuper Pty Ltd

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,432,854 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 133,967 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $59,800,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 122,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,933,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Tobam bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 32,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 64,689 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,548,000 after buying an additional 7,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 52,487 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 3,010 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MOS. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Barclays cut shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. CIBC began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.80.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS opened at $26.54 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.18 and a 200-day moving average of $26.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $23.56 and a 12-month high of $33.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.88%.

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.