Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Stake in The Mosaic Company $MOS

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 51.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 502,962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 537,000 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.16% of Mosaic worth $17,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mosaic by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,661,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,340,786,000 after buying an additional 160,953 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 2.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,056,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $476,293,000 after buying an additional 251,496 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 11.4% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,576,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $436,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,883 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Mosaic by 3.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,186,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $318,585,000 after acquiring an additional 331,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mosaic by 632.6% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,447,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $291,348,000 after acquiring an additional 7,294,205 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $35.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price objective on Mosaic from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Mosaic from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Mosaic from $38.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Mosaic from $35.00 to $28.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.94.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS stock opened at $27.68 on Tuesday. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $22.36 and a 52 week high of $38.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.02 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 4.49%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 52.07%.

Mosaic Profile

Mosaic Co is one of the world’s leading producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. The company’s primary business activities center on the extraction, processing and distribution of phosphate rock, phosphate-based fertilizers and potash products. These core nutrients are essential components in modern agriculture, supporting crop yields and soil health across a range of farming applications.

In its phosphate segment, Mosaic operates mining and production facilities that convert phosphate rock into concentrated phosphates, finished phosphate fertilizers and feed phosphates for animal nutrition.