Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 6,000 The Mosaic Company $MOS

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MOS. Bangor Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 169.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 102.3% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares during the period. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 88.8% in the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:MOS opened at $27.23 on Tuesday. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $22.36 and a one year high of $38.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.23, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.00.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.20). Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 8.35%.The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 29.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Mizuho set a $34.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Monday, October 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.23.

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.