Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Lowers Stock Position in The Mosaic Company $MOS

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its stake in The Mosaic Company by 13.5%, selling 22,500 shares and now holding 144,000 shares valued at $3,889,000.
• Institutional investors collectively own 77.54% of Mosaic's stock, with several firms, including Boston Partners and Victory Capital Management, significantly increasing their positions during the first quarter.
• Mosaic reported an EPS of $0.51 for the last quarter, missing estimates by ($0.20), along with a revenue of $3.01 billion, below the expected $3.11 billion.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 13.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 144,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 22,500 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's holdings in Mosaic were worth $3,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Mosaic by 4.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,497,545 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $310,549,000 after purchasing an additional 456,327 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in Mosaic by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,979,380 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $215,540,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368,094 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Mosaic by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,990,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $98,086,000 after acquiring an additional 711,300 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,672,283 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,265,000 after buying an additional 921,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,595,452 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $97,113,000 after purchasing an additional 226,856 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MOS shares. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Mosaic from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Mosaic from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mosaic from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.42.

Mosaic Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:MOS traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $32.41. The stock had a trading volume of 2,683,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,452,019. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $22.36 and a fifty-two week high of $38.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The business's 50 day moving average is $34.66 and its 200 day moving average is $31.66. The stock has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.99.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 4.74%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Mosaic's dividend payout ratio is 29.83%.

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.