Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Hits New 52-Week Low – Here’s Why

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) hit a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $23.98 and last traded at $23.99, with a volume of 419490 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $24.28.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MOS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, CIBC assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.40.

Mosaic Stock Performance

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 cap of $7.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.22.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company’s revenue 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.54%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.34%.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Mosaic by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 40,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,167,000 after purchasing an additional 4,915 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $241,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 40.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Mosaic by 69.7% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 218,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,326,000 after buying an additional 89,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GYL Financial Synergies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic in the second quarter valued at approximately $243,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.