Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Sells 8,264 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. reduced its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 23.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 27,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,264 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MOS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 1,815.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 10,124,427 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,357,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,277,536,000 after buying an additional 1,893,797 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,628,850 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Mosaic by 1,795.5% during the first 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. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Mosaic in the 1st quarter valued at $37,936,000. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Mosaic

In other news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,821,628.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total value of $346,035.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 34,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $938,687.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $1,111,354.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 136,682 shares in the company, valued at $3,821,628.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Price Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $26.89 on Friday. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $24.11 and a 12-month high of $38.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.57 billion, a PE ratio of 36.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.35.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 113.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on MOS. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on 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 reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of 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 issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.11.

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.