Van ECK Associates Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,403,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 166,826 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $50,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Mosaic by 95.0% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 42,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,504,000 after acquiring an additional 20,585 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 526.1% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 47.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 58,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,071,000 after buying an additional 18,848 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in Mosaic by 29.9% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 94,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,360,000 after buying an additional 21,706 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in Mosaic by 91.4% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 62,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,210,000 after acquiring an additional 29,644 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 research firms have weighed in on MOS. Scotiabank raised Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research began coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. TheStreet downgraded shares of Mosaic from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Mizuho lowered shares of Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.27.

Mosaic Stock Performance

MOS traded up $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $31.40. 1,962,480 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,787,005. The company has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.85, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.22. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $29.25 and a fifty-two week high of $43.99.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.11). Mosaic had a net margin of 8.51% and a return on equity of 9.69%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 29.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 6th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 24.07%.

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.