The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.4167.

Several research firms have weighed in on MOS. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, CIBC increased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th.

Insider Transactions at Mosaic

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total value of $643,140.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 128,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,592,948.58. This trade represents a 12.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in Mosaic by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 12,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in Mosaic by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 40,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Mosaic by 27.8% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,749 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Mosaic by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 25.7% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mosaic Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $32.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of 11.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.12. Mosaic has a 52 week low of $22.36 and a 52 week high of $38.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.94.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 4.74%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Mosaic will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.