New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 27,594 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 268,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 27,594 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $9,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MOS. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in Mosaic by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,582 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 100.5% during the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 10,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 9.5% in the third quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 5,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Mosaic Stock Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $29.92 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.16. The company has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a PE ratio of 8.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.50. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $29.25 and a fifty-two week high of $43.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 1.22.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 8.51%. Mosaic’s quarterly revenue was down 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.07%.

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.