Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Mosaic (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 46,424 call options on the company. This is an increase of 189% compared to the typical daily volume of 16,057 call options.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 169.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the second quarter worth $28,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in Mosaic by 1,819.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 806 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Mosaic during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. HSBC dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $35.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Mosaic from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Mosaic from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.75.

Mosaic Stock Performance

NYSE:MOS opened at $23.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. Mosaic has a 1 year low of $22.36 and a 1 year high of $38.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.18.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released 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). Mosaic had a return on equity of 5.80% and a net margin of 4.49%.The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Mosaic’s payout ratio is currently 52.07%.

Mosaic Company 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.