Gotham Asset Management LLC Cuts Stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Gotham Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 32.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 533,483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 258,985 shares during the quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $13,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Mosaic in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,363,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,507,131 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $332,005,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,243 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,041,218 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $271,382,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151,426 shares during the period. Criteria Caixa S.A.U. purchased a new position in Mosaic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,231,000. Finally, Covalis Capital LLP acquired a new position in Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,031,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Mosaic from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays upgraded shares of Mosaic from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.17.

Mosaic Price Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $32.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $22.36 and a one year high of $32.71. The company has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.54.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

Mosaic 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.