Donald Smith & CO. Inc. Acquires 273,590 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 84.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 597,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 273,590 shares during the quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. owned about 0.18% of Mosaic worth $21,356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Denali Advisors LLC grew its position in Mosaic by 100.5% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Mosaic by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 526.1% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the 3rd quarter worth $57,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Mosaic in the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Stock Performance

NYSE:MOS traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $30.87. The company had a trading volume of 3,972,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,822,927. The firm has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.67, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.50. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $29.25 and a 52 week high of $43.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.26.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.11). Mosaic had a net margin of 8.51% and a return on equity of 9.69%. The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 29.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Mosaic from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Mizuho cut Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Piper Sandler cut Mosaic from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.27.

Mosaic 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.