Barclays Downgrades Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) to Underweight

Barclays cut shares of Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) from an overweight rating to an underweight rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Barclays currently has $27.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $30.00.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on MOS. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 report on Tuesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.82.

Mosaic Trading Up 3.5 %

NYSE MOS opened at $28.77 on Tuesday. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.70. Mosaic has a twelve month low of $23.56 and a twelve month high of $33.44. The company has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.34.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm 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 earned $0.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. This is a boost from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its position in Mosaic by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in Mosaic by 5.1% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 8,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Mosaic by 5.8% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 1.8% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 30,921 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $894,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.