Mosaic Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 15,614 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 77% compared to the typical volume of 8,822 call options.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 1.5% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 23.2% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in Mosaic by 5.1% during 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Mosaic by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $254,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $27.79 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.67. The stock has a market cap of $8.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. Mosaic has a 52-week low of $23.56 and a 52-week high of $33.44. 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 (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is currently 74.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MOS shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. Barclays cut shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mosaic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.80.

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.