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

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 16,971 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 141% compared to the average volume of 7,049 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Mosaic from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. 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. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.11.

Mosaic Trading Up 6.2 %

NYSE:MOS traded up $1.68 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $28.57. The company had a trading volume of 3,185,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,322,661. The company has a market capitalization of $9.10 billion, a PE ratio of 38.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.11. Mosaic has a 52 week low of $24.11 and a 52 week high of $38.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

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

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.51%.

Insider Transactions at Mosaic

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

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 1st quarter worth about $1,776,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Mosaic in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,610,000. Duality Advisers LP raised its position in Mosaic by 523.0% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 216,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,024,000 after buying an additional 181,654 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Mosaic by 1,815.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,682,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $346,743,000 after buying an additional 10,124,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Mosaic by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,357,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,277,536,000 after buying an additional 1,893,797 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.