Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Cut to “Sell” at Freedom Broker

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) was downgraded by analysts at Freedom Broker from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, FinViz reports. They presently have a $18.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $17.00. Freedom Broker‘s price objective indicates a potential downside of 19.58% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on MOS. Freedom Capital lowered shares of Mosaic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. cut Mosaic from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $27.00 to $25.00 in a report on Monday, October 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Mosaic from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 16th. KeyCorp started coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, September 10th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Mosaic from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.63.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of MOS stock traded down $0.61 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $22.38. 2,932,644 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,025,806. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Mosaic has a fifty-two week low of $16.99 and a fifty-two week high of $32.25. The company has a market cap of $7.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.33, a P/E/G ratio of 19.45 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.72.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $3.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Mosaic had a positive return on equity of 0.58% and a negative net margin of 9.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Mosaic

In other Mosaic news, SVP Walter Precourt, III sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.12, for a total transaction of $508,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 116,198 shares in the company, valued at $2,570,299.76. This represents a 16.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mosaic

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Mosaic in the second quarter worth about $524,484,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,240,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $363,110,000 after purchasing an additional 832,914 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in Mosaic during the 2nd quarter valued at about $163,662,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic during the second quarter valued at approximately $108,329,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Mosaic by 0.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,136,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,471,000 after purchasing an additional 25,109 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Company Profile

The Mosaic Company is a producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. Its products help farmers supply crops with essential nutrients, and the company also makes phosphate-based animal feed ingredients and products for industrial applications. Mosaic’s operations include phosphate mining and processing in the United States and potash mining in Canada. Through its Brazilian operations, Mosaic Fertilizantes, the company produces, blends and distributes crop nutrients and related products in Brazil and other markets in South America.