Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Purchases 533,879 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 252.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 745,154 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 533,879 shares during the quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.23% of Mosaic worth $18,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Mosaic by 49.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 73,807 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,814,000 after acquiring an additional 24,281 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Mosaic by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,368,596 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $82,800,000 after purchasing an additional 150,186 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in Mosaic by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 291,605 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,168,000 after purchasing an additional 73,653 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Mosaic by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,387,332 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,101,000 after purchasing an additional 117,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Mosaic in the fourth quarter worth about $1,054,000. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MOS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mosaic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. CIBC increased their target price on Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Mosaic in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Mosaic from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mosaic presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.58.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of Mosaic stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $35.13. 2,932,756 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,708,614. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $22.36 and a one year high of $35.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.05.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic's payout ratio is 75.86%.

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.