Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Sells 10,244 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 627,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,244 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Mosaic worth $15,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MOS. Brooklyn Investment Group raised 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 acquiring an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 180,900.0% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays cut shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.80.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $26.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.14, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. 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 1-year low of $23.56 and a 1-year high of $33.44. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.59.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during 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%. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio 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.