Blueshift Asset Management LLC Takes Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 8,287 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MOS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $183,155,000 after buying an additional 1,628,850 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 1,795.5% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,279,022 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,496,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211,544 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Mosaic by 44.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,189,000 after buying an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 84.7% during the second quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,083,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,205,000 after buying an additional 955,199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 15.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,311,123 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $95,691,000 after acquiring an additional 435,598 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MOS shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.22.

Mosaic Stock Up 2.8 %

Mosaic stock opened at $26.46 on Friday. 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 50 day moving average of $26.44 and a 200-day moving average of $27.66. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $24.11 and a twelve month high of $38.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a PE ratio of 23.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.35.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The company’s revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.34%.

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.