Accredited Investors Inc. Buys New Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Accredited Investors Inc. acquired a new position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 31,289 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $838,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MOS. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Mosaic by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 176,748 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,736,000 after buying an additional 43,216 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in Mosaic by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 501,863 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,281,000 after purchasing an additional 42,318 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,357,229 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,277,536,000 after buying an additional 1,893,797 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 61.1% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 16,352 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $530,000 after buying an additional 6,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in Mosaic by 10.2% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 76,523 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,484,000 after acquiring an additional 7,088 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MOS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $33.22.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MOS traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.38. 3,414,113 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,918,930. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $24.11 and a fifty-two week high of $38.30. The stock has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.35. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $26.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. Mosaic's revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Mosaic's dividend payout ratio is currently 74.34%.

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.