Barclays PLC Trims Stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Barclays PLC cut its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,209,573 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 135,565 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.38% of Mosaic worth $32,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MOS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Mosaic by 34.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $183,155,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628,850 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 44.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,189,000 after purchasing an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 84.7% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 40.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,817,000 after buying an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,311,123 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $95,691,000 after buying an additional 435,598 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $26.80 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $8.51 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $24.11 and a twelve month high of $38.30.

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

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MOS. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. CIBC assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One investment 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.40.

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.