Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 618,956 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,740,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 618,956 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Mosaic worth $952,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MOS. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 178,844 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,368,596 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,800,000 after buying an additional 150,186 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 40.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Mosaic by 190.8% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,593,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,178,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in Mosaic by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,387,332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,101,000 after acquiring an additional 117,838 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MOS shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. CIBC began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer raised shares of Mosaic from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Mosaic from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Mosaic from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.67.

Mosaic Price Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $27.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.20. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $22.48 and a 52 week high of $33.44.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 160.00%.

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.