Investors Purchase High Volume of Mosaic Call Options (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 16,971 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 141% compared to the typical volume of 7,049 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total transaction of $346,035.12. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 34,359 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $938,687.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Mosaic news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $1,111,354.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,682 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,821,628.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total value of $346,035.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 34,359 shares in the company, valued at $938,687.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mosaic

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MOS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,357,229 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,277,536,000 after buying an additional 1,893,797 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Mosaic by 1,815.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,682,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $346,743,000 after acquiring an additional 10,124,427 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,124 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $183,155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,850 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 15.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,311,123 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $95,691,000 after purchasing an additional 435,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 32.1% in the third quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $73,687,000 after purchasing an additional 668,347 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MOS shares. Mizuho decreased their target price on Mosaic from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Mosaic from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $33.11.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of MOS stock traded up $1.44 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $28.33. The company had a trading volume of 7,370,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,343,449. Mosaic has a 52-week low of $24.11 and a 52-week high of $38.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $26.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.11. The stock has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.95, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.35.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 6.92%. Mosaic's revenue for the quarter was down 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 5th. Mosaic's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.51%.

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.