West Tower Group LLC Invests $281,000 in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

West Tower Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MOS. Highlander Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mosaic by 515.4% in the first quarter. Highlander Capital Management LLC now owns 800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Mosaic by 40.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Mosaic by 180,900.0% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Mosaic in the second quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of Mosaic stock opened at $26.22 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.35. The Mosaic Company has a 12 month low of $24.11 and a 12 month high of $38.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The business’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. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on MOS shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.22.

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.