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

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.64.

MOS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays upgraded shares of Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho cut their target price on Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Mosaic from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, CIBC started coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter valued at $270,000. Probity Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 8,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter valued at $224,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter valued at $5,214,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Up 3.4 %

MOS stock opened at $25.91 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company’s 50 day moving average is $26.28 and its 200 day moving average is $26.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. Mosaic has a 1-year low of $22.48 and a 1-year high of $33.44.

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 issued a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 160.00%.

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.