The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.42.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MOS. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer raised Mosaic from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Mosaic from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $29.52 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.04. Mosaic has a fifty-two week low of $22.36 and a fifty-two week high of $32.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.02 and a 200-day moving average of $26.24.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 73,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 24,281 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,368,596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $82,800,000 after purchasing an additional 150,186 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 291,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,168,000 after purchasing an additional 73,653 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,387,332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,101,000 after purchasing an additional 117,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 4th quarter worth about $1,054,000. Hedge funds and other 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.