Franklin Resources Inc. Increases Holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 30.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 300,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,763 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.09% of Mosaic worth $7,854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Mosaic by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 39,617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,534 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 12.6% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 12,282 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 1,371 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Mosaic during the third quarter valued at $303,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in Mosaic by 23.4% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 357,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,581,000 after buying an additional 67,811 shares during the period. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Mosaic during the third quarter worth about $232,000. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Barclays decreased 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 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho raised their price target on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, CIBC started coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.40.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE MOS opened at $24.07 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The Mosaic Company has a 1-year low of $23.70 and a 1-year high of $37.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $26.34 and a 200-day moving average of $27.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.34%.

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.