Ethic Inc. Sells 5,722 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Ethic Inc. decreased its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 30.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,722 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MOS. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Mosaic by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 68,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,963 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 21,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 110.8% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 587 shares during the period. Lake Hills Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $221,000. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Mosaic in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $326,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of Mosaic stock opened at $35.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $11.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $22.36 and a one year high of $35.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.06 and its 200-day moving average is $26.79.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MOS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Mosaic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, March 27th. CIBC upped their price target on Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Mosaic to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.58.

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.