First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases New Holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 121,347 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,983,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 8,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Mosaic by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Mosaic by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays downgraded Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler raised shares of Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. CIBC started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.82.

Mosaic Stock Down 1.9 %

Mosaic stock opened at $28.24 on Monday. The Mosaic Company has a 1-year low of $23.56 and a 1-year high of $33.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. 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 50 day simple moving average of $25.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.72.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 74.34%.

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.