KBC Group NV Decreases Stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

KBC Group NV reduced its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 810,337 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 23,876 shares during the period. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.25% of Mosaic worth $21,700,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MOS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $1,277,536,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,797 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 1,815.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,682,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $346,743,000 after acquiring an additional 10,124,427 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 34.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,124 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $183,155,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628,850 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,311,123 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $95,691,000 after acquiring an additional 435,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $73,687,000 after acquiring an additional 668,347 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Mosaic stock traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $26.38. 3,414,113 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,350,625. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $26.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.89. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $24.11 and a twelve month high of $38.30. The firm has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Mosaic's payout ratio is 74.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Mosaic Company 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.