Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 2,008 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 131.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 38,894 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after buying an additional 22,084 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Mosaic by 44.2% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 986,812 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 2.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,269,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,997,000 after purchasing an additional 28,816 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Mosaic during the third quarter worth about $1,251,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 41.8% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 121,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 35,789 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. CIBC assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.82.

Mosaic Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of MOS opened at $28.77 on Friday. The Mosaic Company has a 1-year low of $23.56 and a 1-year high of $33.44. The company has a market capitalization of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.34. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.70.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 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.