Analysts Set The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Target Price at $35.40

Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.40.

Several brokerages have commented on MOS. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Mosaic by 34.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $183,155,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,850 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 84.7% during the 2nd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,083,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,205,000 after buying an additional 955,199 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,817,000 after acquiring an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Mosaic by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,311,123 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $95,691,000 after acquiring an additional 435,598 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS opened at $23.87 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.58 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.97. Mosaic has a 1 year low of $23.60 and a 1 year high of $37.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.88%.

Mosaic Company Profile

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.