Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 54.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,400 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 29,527 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Mosaic were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intellectus Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 12,350 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Mosaic by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 92,550 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,275,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 8,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,947 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 100,156 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,462,000 after buying an additional 683 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MOS. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mosaic from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 7th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $33.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Mosaic from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.58.

Mosaic Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE MOS traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.47. The stock had a trading volume of 3,972,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,810,697. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a PE ratio of 30.58, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.55. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $22.36 and a twelve month high of $37.69.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.91% and a net margin of 3.32%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Mosaic's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 128,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,592,948.58. This trade represents a 12.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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.