Empowered Funds LLC Sells 25,059 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Empowered Funds LLC decreased its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,191 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25,059 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Mosaic by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 54,721 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,301 shares during the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the 3rd quarter valued at $320,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 14,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,588 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 29,003 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 4,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 85.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MOS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho lifted 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. 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 note on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. One equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.22.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS opened at $26.03 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 company has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $26.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.81. The Mosaic Company has a 1 year low of $24.11 and a 1 year high of $38.30.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. Mosaic’s revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 74.34%.

Mosaic 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.