The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.4167.

MOS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Mosaic from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Mosaic in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Mosaic from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Mosaic from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th.

Mosaic Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $34.80 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Mosaic has a 1-year low of $22.36 and a 1-year high of $38.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.99.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 4.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.83%.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 12,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares during the period. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 40,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,749 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Mosaic by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Mosaic by 25.7% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.