South Dakota Investment Council Acquires 34,128 Shares of The Mosaic Company $MOS

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 48.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 104,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 34,128 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $3,804,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MOS. Bangor Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 88.8% in the 2nd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MOS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Mosaic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Mizuho set a $34.00 target price on Mosaic in a research report on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Mosaic from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on Mosaic from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Mosaic from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.23.

Mosaic Trading Down 0.8%

Mosaic stock opened at $27.23 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.58. The company has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.00. The Mosaic Company has a 52-week low of $22.36 and a 52-week high of $38.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is currently 29.83%.

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.