The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $33.80.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MOS shares. Oppenheimer started coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays downgraded shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MOS. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,621,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $218,751,000 after purchasing an additional 269,650 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Mosaic during the fourth quarter valued at about $97,363,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Mosaic by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,368,596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $82,800,000 after buying an additional 150,186 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Mosaic by 40.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,817,000 after acquiring an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in Mosaic by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,138,125 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,135,000 after acquiring an additional 386,545 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of MOS stock opened at $26.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $26.14 and a 200-day moving average of $26.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Mosaic has a one year low of $23.56 and a one year high of $33.44.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The company’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 business earned $0.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mosaic will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.34%.

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.