The Mosaic Company $MOS Shares Purchased by Ethic Inc.

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. boosted its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 93.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,773 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 11,992 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Mosaic were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,590 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 4,210 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 8,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 102.3% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,947 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 128,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,592,948.58. This trade 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 available through this link. 0.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of MOS stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $33.30. 5,164,965 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,457,686. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $22.36 and a fifty-two week high of $38.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $10.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.29, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Mosaic's revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MOS. Barclays raised their price objective on Mosaic from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. CIBC raised their price objective on Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Mosaic from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.