Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Sells 29,246 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 35.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,927 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 29,246 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,326,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mosaic by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,351,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $228,018,000 after purchasing an additional 178,844 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Mosaic by 40.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,817,000 after buying an additional 947,500 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 44.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,189,000 after buying an additional 986,812 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in Mosaic by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,939,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,717,000 after acquiring an additional 359,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 32.1% during the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $73,687,000 after acquiring an additional 668,347 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MOS shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. CIBC started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.09.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $28.59 on Friday. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $23.56 and a twelve month high of $33.44. The firm has a market cap of $9.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.30, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $26.00 and a 200 day moving average of $26.75. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. Mosaic’s revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

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.