Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Mosaic (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 15,614 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 77% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,822 call options.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,351,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $228,018,000 after buying an additional 178,844 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 40.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,817,000 after buying an additional 947,500 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,189,000 after buying an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,939,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,717,000 after buying an additional 359,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,687,000 after purchasing an additional 668,347 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mosaic Trading Up 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE MOS traded up $0.99 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $28.05. 1,489,171 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,633,420. Mosaic has a 1 year low of $23.56 and a 1 year high of $33.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 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 (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. This is a boost from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 74.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MOS. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.80.

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.