Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Bank of Nova Scotia cut its position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 62.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,686 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 137,705 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Mosaic were worth $2,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Mosaic by 36.1% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 56,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,520,000 after buying an additional 14,943 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its position in Mosaic by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 53,172 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the first quarter valued at $1,119,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 19.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 47,186 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 7,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 12.8% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 23,543 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,663 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MOS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Mosaic from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Mosaic from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, CIBC increased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mosaic currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.50.

Insider Transactions at Mosaic

In other Mosaic news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of Mosaic stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total transaction of $643,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Mosaic Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of MOS stock traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $31.98. 5,399,900 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,607,343. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.87. The firm has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.14. The Mosaic Company has a fifty-two week low of $22.36 and a fifty-two week high of $38.23.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by ($0.20). Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 8.35%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 EPS 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.