Davidson Investment Advisors Sells 45,598 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Davidson Investment Advisors trimmed its holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 253,048 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 45,598 shares during the period. Davidson Investment Advisors owned 0.08% of Mosaic worth $6,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Mosaic by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,345 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 8,764 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 32,516 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $799,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 110.8% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MOS traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $25.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,587,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,842,488. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.34. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $23.56 and a fifty-two week high of $33.44. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Mosaic's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic's payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MOS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Barclays lowered Mosaic from an "overweight" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mosaic has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $33.80.

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.