Vontobel Holding Ltd. Buys 6,078 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 16.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,738 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,078 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MOS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,357,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,277,536,000 after buying an additional 1,893,797 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 1,815.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,682,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $346,743,000 after acquiring an additional 10,124,427 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 34.6% during the second 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 15.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,311,123 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $95,691,000 after purchasing an additional 435,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in Mosaic by 13.6% in the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,579,644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,552,000 after purchasing an additional 308,110 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MOS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Mosaic from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.11.

Insider Activity at Mosaic

In other Mosaic news, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total value of $346,035.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,359 shares in the company, valued at $938,687.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 39,748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $1,111,354.08. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,821,628.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kelvin R. Westbrook sold 12,666 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.32, for a total value of $346,035.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 34,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $938,687.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Mosaic Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE MOS opened at $26.26 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.35. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $24.11 and a fifty-two week high of $38.30. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.92% and a net margin of 2.01%. The business’s revenue was down 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 5th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 35.74%.

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.