Brokerages Set The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Target Price at $33.22

Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $33.22.

Several analysts recently commented on MOS shares. Barclays lowered their target price on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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 valued at $183,155,000 after buying an additional 1,628,850 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 1,795.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,279,022 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,496,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211,544 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Mosaic by 44.2% in the 3rd 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 period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its position in Mosaic by 84.7% during the 2nd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,083,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,205,000 after purchasing an additional 955,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 40.6% in the third 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. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $27.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.35. Mosaic has a 1-year low of $24.11 and a 1-year high of $38.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $26.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.60.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm’s revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Mosaic will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Mosaic’s payout ratio is currently 74.34%.

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.