Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Invests $3.51 Million in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 142,633 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,506,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at $97,363,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,507,131 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $332,005,000 after buying an additional 3,058,243 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,041,218 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $271,382,000 after buying an additional 2,151,426 shares during the last quarter. Criteria Caixa S.A.U. acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,231,000. Finally, Covalis Capital LLP acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,031,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mosaic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. BNP Paribas upgraded Mosaic to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $34.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.58.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $35.21. The company had a trading volume of 5,302,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,692,168. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $28.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.79. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $22.36 and a twelve month high of $35.30. The company has a market capitalization of $11.16 billion, a PE ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.86%.

Mosaic 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.