Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 322,662 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 26.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 889,602 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 322,662 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.28% of Mosaic worth $23,548,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Mosaic by 40.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,229 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in Mosaic by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,958 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in Mosaic by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its stake in Mosaic by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 28,480 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in Mosaic by 5.1% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mosaic news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $1,111,354.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,682 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,821,628.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total transaction of $346,035.12. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,359 shares in the company, valued at $938,687.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $1,111,354.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 136,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,821,628.72. 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 insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MOS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Monday, August 12th. 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 note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.11.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of MOS traded down $0.25 on Tuesday, reaching $28.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,045,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,337,978. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.95, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.35. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $26.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.07. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $24.11 and a 12-month high of $38.30.

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

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. Mosaic's payout ratio is 113.51%.

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.