The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Stock Position Trimmed by Everence Capital Management Inc.

Everence Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 53.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,220 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in MOS. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 2.2% during 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 buying an additional 178,844 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Mosaic by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $183,155,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628,850 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 435,598 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 40.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,817,000 after purchasing an additional 947,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 valued at $86,189,000 after purchasing an additional 986,812 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:MOS opened at $25.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The Mosaic Company has a 1-year low of $23.56 and a 1-year high of $35.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.