Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Cut to Underweight at Barclays

Barclays lowered shares of Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) from an overweight rating to an underweight rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Barclays currently has $27.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $30.00.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. CIBC started coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.82.

Mosaic Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $28.77 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.70. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $23.56 and a 12-month high of $33.44. The firm has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 74.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Mosaic by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 23.2% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 8,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Mosaic by 5.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in Mosaic by 1.8% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 30,921 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $894,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.