Virtu Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 11,314 The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 11,314 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $303,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Mosaic by 2.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,351,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,018,000 after buying an additional 178,844 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 34.6% in the second 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. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $95,691,000 after acquiring an additional 435,598 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $87,817,000 after acquiring an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 44.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,189,000 after acquiring an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the subject of several recent research reports. CIBC assumed coverage on Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.40.

Mosaic Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $25.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $24.11 and a 12-month high of $38.30.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its earnings results 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 during 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%. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.34%.

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.