Mosaic Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 16,971 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 141% compared to the average volume of 7,049 call options.

Mosaic Stock Up 5.4 %

NYSE MOS opened at $28.33 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.10. Mosaic has a one year low of $24.11 and a one year high of $38.30. The firm has a market cap of $9.03 billion, a PE ratio of 38.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 113.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mosaic has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mosaic

In other Mosaic news, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total transaction of $346,035.12. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $938,687.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total value of $346,035.12. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,359 shares in the company, valued at $938,687.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,821,628.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MOS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Mosaic by 1,815.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,682,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $346,743,000 after acquiring an additional 10,124,427 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,357,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,277,536,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,797 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 34.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $183,155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,850 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Mosaic by 1,795.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,279,022 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,496,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Mosaic in the first quarter valued at about $37,936,000. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.