The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Shares Sold by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC trimmed its holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 49.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,968 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MOS. Highlander Capital Management LLC increased its position in Mosaic by 515.4% during the first quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Mosaic during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Mosaic by 40.0% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Mosaic during the first quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its position in Mosaic by 342.8% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $1,111,354.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,682 shares in the company, valued at $3,821,628.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $1,111,354.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,682 shares in the company, valued at $3,821,628.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total transaction of $346,035.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 34,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $938,687.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MOS opened at $28.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.16. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $26.09 and a one year high of $40.67. The firm has a market cap of $9.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.41.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.12). Mosaic had a net margin of 2.01% and a return on equity of 6.92%. The business had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 5th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 35.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $39.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.33.

Mosaic Company Profile

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.