Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 69,763 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 30.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 300,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,763 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $7,854,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in 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 valued at $183,155,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628,850 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 44.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $60,205,000 after purchasing an additional 955,199 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Mosaic by 40.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,817,000 after purchasing an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $95,691,000 after purchasing an additional 435,598 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Up 0.8 %

Mosaic stock opened at $24.07 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Mosaic Company has a 12 month low of $23.70 and a 12 month high of $37.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.12.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. Mosaic’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Equities analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays dropped their target price 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. CIBC began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho upped their price target on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.40.

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.