Raymond James & Associates Sells 20,879 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Raymond James & Associates decreased its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 32.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 43,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,879 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors bought a new position in shares of Mosaic in the first quarter worth about $412,663,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Mosaic by 910.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,451,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $296,052,000 after buying an additional 4,011,530 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $128,142,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 38.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,687,831 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $260,958,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570,465 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 136.6% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,574,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $90,108,000 after acquiring an additional 1,486,229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MOS shares. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. TheStreet lowered Mosaic from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Mosaic from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Mizuho cut Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.27.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of MOS stock opened at $30.47 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.46 and its 200-day moving average is $33.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 1.22. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $29.25 and a 52 week high of $45.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of 8.73, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.50.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.11). Mosaic had a net margin of 8.51% and a return on equity of 9.69%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 29.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 24.07%.

About Mosaic

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.