The Mosaic Company $MOS Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,852 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 37,864 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,339,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Mosaic by 22.2% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 366,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,345,000 after purchasing an additional 66,608 shares during the last quarter. Tejara Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,301,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,486,973 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $63,418,000 after purchasing an additional 170,724 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $73,112,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 494,520 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,479,000 after buying an additional 98,060 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Mosaic in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Mosaic from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $25.00 in a report on Monday, October 5th. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Mosaic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut their target price on shares of Mosaic from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.68.

Insider Transactions at Mosaic

In other news, SVP Walter Precourt, III sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,570,299.76. This represents a 16.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Mosaic Stock Performance

MOS stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $22.32. 12,307,540 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,637,952. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 0.88. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $16.99 and a 52 week high of $32.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. 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 (DPR) is currently -24.86%.

About Mosaic

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.