Willis Investment Counsel Reduces Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Willis Investment Counsel decreased its holdings in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 127,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 16,765 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $3,141,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MOS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 valued at $86,189,000 after buying an additional 986,812 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Mosaic by 40.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,817,000 after buying an additional 947,500 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its position in Mosaic by 32.1% in the third quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,687,000 after buying an additional 668,347 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its position in Mosaic by 13.9% in the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,939,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,717,000 after buying an additional 359,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new position in Mosaic in the third quarter valued at about $5,837,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of Mosaic stock opened at $27.89 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $23.56 and a 52 week high of $33.44. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $26.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.69.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. 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 3.16%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mosaic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.80.

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.