The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Short Interest Update

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,810,000 shares, a decrease of 16.8% from the October 31st total of 8,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 2.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Mosaic Stock Up 2.8 %

NYSE MOS opened at $26.46 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.42, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.35. Mosaic has a 52 week low of $24.11 and a 52 week high of $38.30.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 30.3% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 300,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,854,000 after acquiring an additional 69,763 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Mosaic by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 39,617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in Mosaic by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 12,282 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $303,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 357,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,581,000 after buying an additional 67,811 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MOS shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho raised their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 note on Tuesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.22.

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.