Barings LLC Acquires 201,131 Shares of 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 raised its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 166.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 322,205 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 201,131 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC owned about 0.10% of Mosaic worth $8,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MOS. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 64.3% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 30,414 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $821,000 after purchasing an additional 11,908 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 2.2% during the first quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 98,685 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,665,000 after acquiring an additional 2,125 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in Mosaic during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,513,000. S&CO Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 0.4% during the first quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 1,136,423 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,694,000 after buying an additional 4,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Mosaic by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 110,989 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Mosaic

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total value of $643,140.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 128,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,592,948.58. The trade was a 12.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company's stock.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Monday, reaching $35.51. 3,599,628 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,221,877. 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 company has a market cap of $11.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.61, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.12. The Mosaic Company has a 52-week low of $22.36 and a 52-week high of $38.23. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $36.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.77.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.32% and a return on equity of 4.91%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 earnings per share. Mosaic's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Mosaic to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a report on Monday, July 14th. Barclays raised their target price on Mosaic from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Five research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.75.

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.