Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Stock Price Up 13.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) traded up 13.4% during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $20.88 and last traded at $20.8850. 10,270,574 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 15% from the average daily volume of 8,921,404 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.42.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on MOS shares. KeyCorp started coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Mosaic from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mosaic from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Freedom Capital lowered Mosaic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, cut shares of Mosaic from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.68.

Mosaic Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.85. The stock has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a PE ratio of -10.70, a PEG ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 0.88.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Mosaic had a positive return on equity of 3.77% and a negative net margin of 5.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -43.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mosaic

In other news, SVP Walter Precourt, III sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.12, for a total value of $508,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 116,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,570,299.76. The trade was a 16.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the 2nd quarter worth about $524,484,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,240,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $363,110,000 after purchasing an additional 832,914 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in Mosaic during the second quarter worth approximately $163,662,000. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic during the second quarter worth about $108,329,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Mosaic by 0.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,136,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,471,000 after acquiring an additional 25,109 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Company Profile

The Mosaic Company is a global producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. Its products help farmers supply crops with essential nutrients, including phosphorus and potassium, and are sold under brands such as MicroEssentials, Aspire and K-Mag.

Mosaic operates an integrated fertilizer business that includes phosphate rock mining, processing and manufacturing, as well as potash mining and production. The company also produces animal feed ingredients and other products derived from phosphate operations.