Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Mosaic Call Options (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders purchased 26,164 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 136% compared to the typical daily volume of 11,076 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,004,000 after acquiring an additional 7,555 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Mosaic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,260,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Mosaic by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,840,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $285,235,000 after buying an additional 2,653,969 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 247.8% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 50,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,148,000 after buying an additional 35,817 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 56,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after buying an additional 13,762 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Mosaic from $39.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mosaic from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce cut their price objective on Mosaic from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.94.

Mosaic Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MOS traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $25.88. The company had a trading volume of 6,738,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,091,667. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.61. Mosaic has a 52 week low of $22.36 and a 52 week high of $38.23.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.26). Mosaic had a net margin of 4.49% and a return on equity of 5.80%. The company had revenue of $2.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 52.07%.

Mosaic Company Profile

Mosaic Co is one of the world’s leading producers and marketers of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. The company’s primary business activities center on the extraction, processing and distribution of phosphate rock, phosphate-based fertilizers and potash products. These core nutrients are essential components in modern agriculture, supporting crop yields and soil health across a range of farming applications.

In its phosphate segment, Mosaic operates mining and production facilities that convert phosphate rock into concentrated phosphates, finished phosphate fertilizers and feed phosphates for animal nutrition.