Barings LLC Has $8.70 Million Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Key Points

• Barings LLC significantly increased its holdings in The Mosaic Company by 166.1%, acquiring an additional 201,131 shares in the first quarter.
• The Mosaic Company recently reported $0.49 earnings per share, surpassing estimates, but experienced a 2.2% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• A number of brokerages have recently upgraded Mosaic's rating, with Wall Street Zen raising it to a "buy" rating and BNP Paribas giving it a "strong-buy" rating.

Barings LLC grew its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 166.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 322,205 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 201,131 shares during the period. Barings LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Mosaic worth $8,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MOS. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Mosaic by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 298,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,330,000 after acquiring an additional 23,855 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in Mosaic by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 34,962 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 4,574 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Mosaic by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 367,115 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,024,000 after acquiring an additional 4,783 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Mosaic by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 265,262 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,520,000 after acquiring an additional 20,163 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mosaic by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,621,001 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $218,751,000 after buying an additional 269,650 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of MOS stock traded down $4.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.00. 15,966,864 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,564,954. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.72, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $36.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.81. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $22.36 and a 52 week high of $38.23.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.20). Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.91% and a net margin of 3.32%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on MOS. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 price target (up from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, CIBC increased their price target 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.83.

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.