The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Shares Sold by Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. cut its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 8.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 316,445 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 27,932 shares during the quarter. Mosaic comprises about 1.1% of Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Mosaic worth $8,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 61.1% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 16,352 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $530,000 after acquiring an additional 6,201 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Mosaic by 2.4% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 41,667 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,353,000 after buying an additional 987 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Mosaic by 37.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 16,803 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 4,574 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in 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 buying an additional 10,124,427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Mosaic during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $386,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MOS shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays decreased their target price 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, Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 note on Tuesday, September 24th. One equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $33.22.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MOS traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $26.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,653,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,102,392. The company has a market cap of $8.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.35. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $26.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.77. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $24.11 and a 12-month high of $38.30. 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 (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.11 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. Mosaic's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.34%.

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.