The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.82.

A number of brokerages have commented on MOS. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of MOS opened at $28.77 on Friday. Mosaic has a 52 week low of $23.56 and a 52 week high of $33.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.69 and a 200-day moving average of $26.70.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. This is an increase from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 74.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in Mosaic by 110.8% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 180,900.0% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Mosaic during the second quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.