KBC Group NV Acquires 16,318 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 853,984 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 16,318 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.27% of Mosaic worth $23,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Intellectus Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 12,350 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 92,550 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,275,000 after buying an additional 471 shares during the period. Probity Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 8,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $220,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the period. Finally, Sicart Associates LLC boosted its stake in Mosaic by 0.6% during the first quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 110,762 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,992,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Mosaic from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Mosaic to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.58.

Insider Transactions at Mosaic

In other news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company's stock.

Mosaic Stock Performance

MOS stock traded up $0.52 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,147,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,804,975. The stock's 50 day moving average is $34.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.83. The firm has a market cap of $11.83 billion, a PE ratio of 32.14, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.12. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $22.36 and a 52 week high of $37.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.