The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Position Reduced by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 75.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,581 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 35,328 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 131.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 38,894 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 22,084 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 44.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,189,000 after buying an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in Mosaic by 2.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,269,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,997,000 after buying an additional 28,816 shares during the last quarter. Herr Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 1,318.7% in the second quarter. Herr Investment Group LLC now owns 332,209 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,601,000 after buying an additional 308,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,251,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MOS. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays cut their price objective on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. 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. CIBC began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.40.

Mosaic Stock Down 0.9 %

MOS stock opened at $23.87 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.98. The company has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $23.60 and a 12-month high of $37.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 77.88%.

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.