Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Royal Bank Of Canada

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) had its price target decreased by Royal Bank Of Canada from $25.00 to $23.00 in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mosaic from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 16th. Freedom Broker raised shares of Mosaic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $17.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reduced their target price on shares of Mosaic from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Mosaic from $23.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.63.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of MOS opened at $22.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.69. Mosaic has a 52-week low of $16.99 and a 52-week high of $32.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.24 billion, a PE ratio of 109.48, a P/E/G ratio of 19.64 and a beta of 0.88.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Mosaic had a positive return on equity of 0.58% and a negative net margin of 9.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Mosaic will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is -24.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Mosaic during the second quarter worth $524,484,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Mosaic by 6.2% in the first 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. acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the 2nd quarter valued at $163,662,000. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the 2nd quarter valued at $108,329,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Mosaic by 0.6% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 25,109 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mosaic Company Profile

The Mosaic Company is a producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. Its products help farmers supply crops with essential nutrients, and the company also makes phosphate-based animal feed ingredients and products for industrial applications. Mosaic’s operations include phosphate mining and processing in the United States and potash mining in Canada. Through its Brazilian operations, Mosaic Fertilizantes, the company produces, blends and distributes crop nutrients and related products in Brazil and other markets in South America.