South Dakota Investment Council Purchases 31,417 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

South Dakota Investment Council raised its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 81.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 70,142 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 31,417 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council's holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Probity Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 8,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 102.3% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,062 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Mosaic by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,947 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Sicart Associates LLC increased its holdings in Mosaic by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Sicart Associates LLC now owns 110,762 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,992,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 100,156 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,462,000 after acquiring an additional 683 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MOS shares. Barclays upped their price target on Mosaic from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. BNP Paribas upgraded Mosaic to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. CIBC lifted their target price on Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.58.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MOS traded down $0.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $35.52. 3,435,294 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,845,133. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $22.36 and a twelve month high of $38.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.12. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $35.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.97. The company has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Mosaic

In related news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total transaction of $643,140.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 128,546 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,592,948.58. This represents a 12.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.