Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Shares Climb 13.4% – Here’s What Happened

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)’s stock price traded up 13.4% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $20.88 and last traded at $20.8850. 10,270,574 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 15% from the average session volume of 8,921,404 shares. The stock had previously closed at $18.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Mosaic from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Mosaic from $23.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. They issued a “sector weight” rating for the company. Freedom Broker upgraded Mosaic from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Mosaic from $26.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.68.

Mosaic Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.70, a P/E/G ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $21.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.85.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.18). Mosaic had a positive return on equity of 3.77% and a negative net margin of 5.21%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 0.31 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, December 4th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -43.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mosaic news, SVP Walter Precourt, III sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.12, for a total transaction of $508,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 116,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,570,299.76. The trade was a 16.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mosaic

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Mosaic in the 2nd quarter valued at $524,484,000. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 2nd quarter worth about $163,662,000. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic during the second quarter valued at about $108,329,000. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic during the second quarter valued at about $73,112,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the second quarter valued at about $57,285,000. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Company Profile

The Mosaic Company is a global producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. Its products help farmers supply crops with essential nutrients, including phosphorus and potassium, and are sold under brands such as MicroEssentials, Aspire and K-Mag.

Mosaic operates an integrated fertilizer business that includes phosphate rock mining, processing and manufacturing, as well as potash mining and production. The company also produces animal feed ingredients and other products derived from phosphate operations.