The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $32.1333.

MOS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $35.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Mosaic from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 5th. HSBC reduced their price target on Mosaic from $35.00 to $26.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Mosaic from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 24th.

Mosaic Stock Up 3.0%

NYSE MOS traded up $0.71 on Wednesday, reaching $24.17. The company had a trading volume of 1,366,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,680,548. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Mosaic has a 1 year low of $22.36 and a 1 year high of $38.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.66 and a 200-day moving average of $31.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.67 billion, a PE ratio of 6.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.94.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.87 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 10.33% and a return on equity of 6.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 22.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 22.80%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in Mosaic by 211.6% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 32,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after buying an additional 22,270 shares in the last quarter. Investment Research Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Mosaic during the third quarter valued at approximately $629,000. Cambria Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 15,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 3,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WBI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $638,000. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.