Cozad Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,179 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Denali Advisors LLC raised its position in Mosaic by 100.5% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 526.1% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the third quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of MOS stock opened at $31.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.55 and a 200 day moving average of $33.19. The Mosaic Company has a 1 year low of $29.25 and a 1 year high of $43.99.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 8.51%. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MOS. TheStreet cut Mosaic from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Mizuho cut Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mosaic from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.27.

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.