The Goldman Sachs Group Initiates Coverage on Mosaic (NYSE:MOS)

Equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 19.63% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Mosaic from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Mosaic from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays raised shares of Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.64.

Mosaic Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of MOS stock opened at $25.91 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $22.48 and a 12-month high of $33.44.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 73,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,814,000 after buying an additional 24,281 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 986,812 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 2.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,269,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,997,000 after buying an additional 28,816 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 291,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,168,000 after buying an additional 73,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the third quarter worth $1,251,000. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.