The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Stock Position Cut by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV decreased its holdings in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 373,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 649 shares during the period. ING Groep NV owned approximately 0.12% of Mosaic worth $9,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 110.8% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Tobam bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MOS shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. CIBC assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.80.

Mosaic Price Performance

NYSE MOS opened at $25.77 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.34. The Mosaic Company has a 52-week low of $23.56 and a 52-week high of $33.44.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.