First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Takes $2.98 Million Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 121,347 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,983,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP grew its position in Mosaic by 131.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 38,894 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,124,000 after acquiring an additional 22,084 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 worth $86,189,000 after acquiring an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in Mosaic by 2.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,269,494 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,997,000 after acquiring an additional 28,816 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Mosaic in the third quarter worth $1,251,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Mosaic by 41.8% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 121,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,249,000 after acquiring an additional 35,789 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.82.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $28.24 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $8.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $25.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.72. 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 $23.56 and a 12 month high of $33.44.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.