The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twelve brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.09.

MOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. CIBC began coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MOS. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 13.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 454,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $13,130,000 after buying an additional 52,846 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 22.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 112,664 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,256,000 after acquiring an additional 20,333 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in Mosaic by 5.0% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,958 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in Mosaic by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 10,613 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 56.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 23,595 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 8,550 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mosaic Stock Performance

MOS traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $27.14. 4,349,716 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,707,518. Mosaic has a 1-year low of $23.56 and a 1-year high of $33.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.34. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $25.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Mosaic's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Mosaic's payout ratio is 74.34%.

About Mosaic

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.