Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC decreased its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 35.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,927 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 29,246 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,326,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 110.8% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 180,900.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 1,809 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mosaic Stock Down 3.1 %

NYSE MOS traded down $0.86 on Monday, reaching $27.03. 5,063,701 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,690,427. The Mosaic Company has a 12 month low of $23.56 and a 12 month high of $33.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.69. The company has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company 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 is a boost from Mosaic's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. Mosaic's dividend payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MOS. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays cut shares of Mosaic from an "overweight" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mosaic currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.