Ethic Inc. Boosts Stock Position in The Mosaic Company $MOS

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. has significantly increased its stake in The Mosaic Company by 93.8%, now holding 24,773 shares worth approximately $664,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Dimensional Fund Advisors and Boston Partners, have also raised their positions in Mosaic, reflecting increasing confidence as institutional ownership now stands at 77.54%.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Mosaic, with JPMorgan Chase raising their target from $35.00 to $37.00 and UBS Group increasing it from $45.00 to $46.00.

Ethic Inc. grew its holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 93.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,773 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,992 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Mosaic were worth $664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,212,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Mosaic by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,497,545 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $310,549,000 after buying an additional 456,327 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in Mosaic by 295.1% in the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 158,841 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,290,000 after buying an additional 118,642 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. bought a new stake in Mosaic in the 1st quarter valued at about $108,000. Finally, Boston Partners increased its position in Mosaic by 42.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,979,380 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $215,540,000 after buying an additional 2,368,094 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total value of $643,140.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 128,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,592,948.58. This represents 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 this link. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Mosaic Stock Down 0.4%

MOS traded down $0.1180 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.4920. 3,294,593 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,326,575. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $22.36 and a one year high of $38.23. The company's fifty day moving average price is $35.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.18. The company has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.20). Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 8.35%.The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. Mosaic's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MOS. Barclays boosted 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on Mosaic from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Mosaic from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Mosaic from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.42.

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.