First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Sells 23,707 Shares of The Mosaic Company $MOS

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. cut its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 18.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 104,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 23,707 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $3,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 45.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,685 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 5,241 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 19.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 47,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 7,828 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 2.7% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 37,209 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC bought a new stake in Mosaic in the first quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 36.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 56,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 14,943 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of MOS opened at $29.63 on Friday. The Mosaic Company has a 52-week low of $22.36 and a 52-week high of $38.23. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $32.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.25. The firm has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a PE ratio of 10.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.00.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.20). Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 8.35%.The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on MOS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Mosaic from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Mosaic from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered Mosaic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $40.00 price target on Mosaic in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.23.

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.