The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 405,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,351 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $10,867,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Mosaic by 180,900.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Mosaic during the 2nd quarter valued at $49,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 23.2% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MOS. CIBC began coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.40.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $23.87 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.97. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $23.60 and a fifty-two week high of $37.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

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

Mosaic Increases Dividend

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

About Mosaic

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.