Newport Trust Company LLC Purchases New Stake in The Mosaic Company $MOS

Key Points

• Newport Trust Company LLC has invested approximately $16.51 million in The Mosaic Company, acquiring 611,320 shares, which represents about 0.19% of the company's total stock.
• The Mosaic Company recently reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.71, with a revenue of $3.01 billion, slightly below expected figures.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Mosaic, with UBS Group and Barclays revising theirs to $46.00 while the average target price is around $36.42 among investment analysts.

Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 611,320 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $16,512,000. Newport Trust Company LLC owned about 0.19% of Mosaic as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 36.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 56,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 14,943 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 1.3% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,172 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the first quarter worth $1,119,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 19.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 47,186 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 7,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 12.8% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 23,543 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,663 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MOS. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Mosaic from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Mosaic from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on Mosaic from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a report on Monday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.42.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Mosaic stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $33.61. 1,744,601 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,528,404. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.12. The Mosaic Company has a 1-year low of $22.36 and a 1-year high of $38.23. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $35.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 8.35%.Mosaic's quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 128,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,592,948.58. The trade was a 12.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company's stock.

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.