KBC Group NV Has $20.59 Million Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 837,666 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,329 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $20,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 44.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,189,000 after purchasing an additional 986,812 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Mosaic by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,817,000 after buying an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its position in Mosaic by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,687,000 after buying an additional 668,347 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its holdings in Mosaic by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,939,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,717,000 after acquiring an additional 359,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new position in Mosaic in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,837,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.8 %

MOS opened at $28.21 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $25.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.72. The Mosaic Company has a 1-year low of $23.56 and a 1-year high of $33.44. The company has a market cap of $8.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost 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 of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. CIBC started coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Barclays downgraded Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.09.

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.