Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 9,654 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 396,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,654 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Mosaic worth $9,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 110.8% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Tobam purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 180,900.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,809 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of MOS opened at $23.90 on Friday. 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 12 month low of $23.05 and a 12 month high of $33.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.46. The firm has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MOS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. CIBC initiated coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays cut Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.80.

Mosaic Company 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.