B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 8,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 67.2% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 79,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,117,000 after buying an additional 31,766 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Mosaic by 8.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 190,195 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,093,000 after purchasing an additional 14,967 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. acquired a new position in Mosaic in the third quarter worth about $838,000. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Mosaic in the third quarter worth about $299,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Mosaic by 6.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 54,721 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 3,301 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.22.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS opened at $26.22 on Tuesday. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $24.11 and a one year high of $38.30. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.35.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.34%.

Mosaic 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.