7,473 Shares in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Purchased by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,473 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MOS. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. boosted its position in Mosaic by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 14,537 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 4,383 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter worth $3,364,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth $1,054,000. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 43,259 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,063,000 after purchasing an additional 14,256 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Mosaic by 59.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,682 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Mosaic

In other news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 128,546 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,592,948.58. This represents a 12.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MOS stock traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,663,710 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,804,898. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.20 billion, a PE ratio of 30.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.14. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $33.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.69. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $22.36 and a 12-month high of $37.69.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Mosaic from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.58.

About Mosaic

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.