Fruth Investment Management Increases Position in The Mosaic Company $MOS

Fruth Investment Management lifted its holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $517,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 169.3% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 102.3% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Mosaic from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Mosaic from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mosaic from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.42.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.8%

MOS opened at $33.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.78. The Mosaic Company has a 1-year low of $22.36 and a 1-year high of $38.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.99.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.11 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 4.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. Analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 29.83%.

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.