Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Purchases 8,308 Shares of The Mosaic Company $MOS

Key Points

• Mirae Asset Global Investments increased its stake in The Mosaic Company by 11.2%, acquiring an additional 8,308 shares, bringing its total holdings to 82,469 shares valued at approximately $3 million.
• Various hedge funds, including Merit Financial Group and GAMMA Investing LLC, have also increased their positions in Mosaic, indicating strong institutional interest with 77.54% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Mosaic reported an earnings per share of $0.51 for the last quarter, missing analysts' expectations, while analysts generally rate the stock as a Moderate Buy with a target price of $36.25.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 11.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 82,469 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,308 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Mosaic were worth $3,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the first quarter worth $26,000. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 9.2% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 22,984 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $621,000 after buying an additional 1,946 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 5.6% during the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 128,146 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,461,000 after buying an additional 6,799 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 1.3% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,172 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,436,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 45.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,685 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 5,241 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MOS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Mosaic from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $43.00 price objective (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mosaic from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mosaic has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.25.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS stock opened at $35.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.98, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.00. 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 Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $22.36 and a 12-month high of $38.23. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $33.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.95.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 8.35% and a return on equity of 4.74%. Mosaic's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Mosaic's payout ratio is presently 29.83%.

Mosaic Company 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.

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