Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,060 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MOS. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Mosaic during the 3rd quarter valued at about $357,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Mosaic during the 3rd quarter valued at about $244,000. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Mosaic by 85.2% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in Mosaic by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 29,003 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 4,740 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS opened at $25.91 on Friday. The Mosaic Company has a 1 year low of $22.48 and a 1 year high of $33.44. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 160.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MOS shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Mosaic from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $26.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays raised shares of Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.64.

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.