Barclays Downgrades Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) to Underweight

Barclays lowered shares of Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) from an overweight rating to an underweight rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $27.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $30.00.

MOS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.82.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of MOS opened at $27.12 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $25.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. Mosaic has a fifty-two week low of $23.56 and a fifty-two week high of $33.44.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.34%.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MOS. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Mosaic by 1.5% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 8,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its position in Mosaic by 1.8% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 30,921 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $894,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

About Mosaic

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.