Willis Investment Counsel Reduces Stock Holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Willis Investment Counsel trimmed its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 127,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 16,765 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel's holdings in Mosaic were worth $3,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MOS. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mosaic by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,351,351 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $228,018,000 after buying an additional 178,844 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 40.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $87,817,000 after purchasing an additional 947,500 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Mosaic by 44.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $86,189,000 after purchasing an additional 986,812 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 13.9% in the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,939,404 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $78,717,000 after purchasing an additional 359,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its position in Mosaic by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $73,687,000 after purchasing an additional 668,347 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MOS shares. Mizuho upped their target price on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays lowered Mosaic from an "overweight" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. CIBC began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $33.80.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS traded down $1.34 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $26.47. 6,560,527 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,936,259. The company has a market capitalization of $8.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Mosaic Company has a 52-week low of $23.56 and a 52-week high of $33.44.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. This is a positive change from Mosaic's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.88%.

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.