Sapient Capital LLC Takes Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 7,107 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MOS. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Mosaic by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,792,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $313,020,000 after purchasing an additional 268,966 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Mosaic by 7.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,107,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $217,429,000 after acquiring an additional 424,063 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Mosaic by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,824,263 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $136,641,000 after acquiring an additional 186,337 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Mosaic by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,062,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $109,042,000 after acquiring an additional 107,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,550,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,802,000 after purchasing an additional 24,420 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MOS shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Mosaic from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Mosaic from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.57.

Mosaic Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE:MOS opened at $29.89 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $31.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 1.51. The Mosaic Company has a 12 month low of $27.83 and a 12 month high of $42.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.01). Mosaic had a return on equity of 8.23% and a net margin of 6.07%. The company had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 25.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.74%.

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.