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

Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.4615.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MOS shares. Scotiabank lowered Mosaic from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Mosaic from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Mosaic from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mosaic

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MOS. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,056,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $476,293,000 after buying an additional 251,496 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Mosaic by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,497,545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $310,549,000 after acquiring an additional 456,327 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Mosaic by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $299,180,000 after acquiring an additional 95,952 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in Mosaic by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,979,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $215,540,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,094 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the 2nd quarter valued at about $158,085,000. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Price Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $29.59 on Tuesday. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $22.36 and a 12-month high of $38.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.00.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.20). Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 8.35%.The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 29.83%.

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.