Barings LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Mosaic Company $MOS

Barings LLC decreased its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 39.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 194,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 127,964 shares during the period. Barings LLC owned 0.06% of Mosaic worth $7,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 172.5% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank acquired a new position in Mosaic during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Mosaic by 169.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 650.0% in the second quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 750 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the second quarter worth about $31,000. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mosaic Stock Up 1.0%

MOS stock opened at $24.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.00. The Mosaic Company has a 12 month low of $22.36 and a 12 month high of $38.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.16. 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 (NYSE:MOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.01. Mosaic had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 4.74%. The firm had revenue of $3.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Mosaic from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $37.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.08.

Mosaic 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.