The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Shares Purchased by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 9.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,946 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 52,487 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 3,010 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Mosaic by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 64,689 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,548,000 after purchasing an additional 7,282 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its holdings in Mosaic by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 32,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $799,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Mosaic by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 122,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hourglass Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 4th quarter valued at $1,035,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.58.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $34.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.89 and a 200-day moving average of $27.80. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $22.36 and a 52 week high of $37.69.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mosaic news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total transaction of $643,140.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 128,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,592,948.58. This trade represents a 12.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.50% 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.