Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.18 EPS

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) posted its earnings results on Tuesday. The basic materials company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.18), FiscalAI reports. Mosaic had a negative net margin of 9.43% and a positive return on equity of 0.57%. 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 business posted $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Mosaic Stock Up 1.9%

MOS traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $22.03. 6,132,600 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,968,035. The firm has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 0.88. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $16.99 and a 12-month high of $32.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.79 and a 200 day moving average of $23.82.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently -24.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MOS. UBS Group decreased their price target on Mosaic from $23.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. KeyCorp started coverage on 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 on the stock in a report on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded Mosaic from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Mosaic from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.68.

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 value of $508,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 116,198 shares in the company, valued at $2,570,299.76. The trade was a 16.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Mosaic

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.