Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Trading Down 5.7% – Should You Sell?

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) shares traded down 5.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $25.49 and last traded at $25.41. 4,067,241 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 4,794,116 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MOS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. CIBC started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut 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. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.80.

Mosaic Stock Down 2.9 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $8.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $26.17 and its 200-day moving average is $26.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued 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 business had revenue of $2.81 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is a boost from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.34%.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MOS. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Mosaic by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC grew its holdings in Mosaic by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 12,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in Mosaic by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 8,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Mosaic by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 92,550 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,275,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Mosaic by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.