Mosaic Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 15,903 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 93% compared to the typical volume of 8,235 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mosaic

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Mosaic by 180,900.0% during 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the 2nd quarter worth $49,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 46.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its position in Mosaic by 85.2% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mosaic Stock Up 7.7 %

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $26.75 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $25.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $8.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. Mosaic has a 1 year low of $23.56 and a 1 year high of $33.44.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. This is an increase from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MOS shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler raised Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. CIBC started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mosaic has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.09.

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.