California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 45,332 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 594,918 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 45,332 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $21,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 3.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,792,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $313,020,000 after acquiring an additional 268,966 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 7.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,107,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $217,429,000 after acquiring an additional 424,063 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,824,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $136,641,000 after acquiring an additional 186,337 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 3.6% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,062,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $109,042,000 after acquiring an additional 107,011 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 1.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,550,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,802,000 after acquiring an additional 24,420 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of MOS opened at $30.25 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.67, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.50. 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 fifty-two week low of $29.25 and a fifty-two week high of $43.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.26.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.11). Mosaic had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 8.51%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 29.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 24.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Mizuho lowered shares of Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. TheStreet lowered shares of Mosaic from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered shares of Mosaic from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.27.

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.