Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Purchases 280,945 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 339.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 363,704 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 280,945 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.11% of Mosaic worth $9,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 1,231.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,478 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,931,000 after acquiring an additional 66,111 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 45.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,685 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,241 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 1.3% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,172 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 30.9% during the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 61,137 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,651,000 after purchasing an additional 14,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 128,146 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,461,000 after purchasing an additional 6,799 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Mosaic

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total transaction of $643,140.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 128,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,592,948.58. The trade was a 12.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Mosaic Stock Performance

MOS traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $35.97. 5,856,825 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,823,424. The company's fifty day moving average price is $32.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.14. 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 Mosaic Company has a 52-week low of $22.36 and a 52-week high of $37.69.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.70 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 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic's payout ratio is 75.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Mosaic from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Mosaic from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.58.

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.