Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 8,351 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 405,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,351 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of Mosaic worth $10,867,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,351,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $228,018,000 after acquiring an additional 178,844 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted 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 during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mosaic by 15.1% during 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 buying an additional 435,598 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 40.6% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 44.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 986,812 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $23.87 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $26.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $23.60 and a 52 week high of $37.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MOS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays cut their price target on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, CIBC assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.40.

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.