The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $40.27.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MOS. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Mosaic from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Scotiabank raised shares of Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lowered shares of Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th.

Mosaic Price Performance

NYSE MOS opened at $30.47 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.50. Mosaic has a 52-week low of $29.25 and a 52-week high of $45.97.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.09 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 8.51%. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 6th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 24.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mosaic

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bornite Capital Management LP bought a new position in Mosaic in the first quarter worth $13,300,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Mosaic by 7.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 189,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,614,000 after purchasing an additional 12,679 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Mosaic by 7.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 20,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507 shares during the period. National Pension Service bought a new position in Mosaic in the first quarter worth $30,360,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Mosaic by 55.4% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 312,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,749,000 after purchasing an additional 111,236 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.