Trexquant Investment LP Takes $1.25 Million Position in The Mosaic Company $MOS

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP has made a new investment in The Mosaic Company, purchasing over 46,000 shares valued at approximately $1.25 million.
• Mosaic reported a disappointing quarterly earnings result, with earnings per share of $0.51, missing the consensus estimate by $0.20 and experiencing a revenue shortfall compared to analyst expectations.
• The company plans to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share on September 18th, representing an annualized yield of 2.7% with a payout ratio of 29.83%.

Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 46,193 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,248,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MOS. Boston Partners raised its stake in Mosaic by 42.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,979,380 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $215,540,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368,094 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Mosaic during the first quarter worth about $54,953,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Mosaic during the first quarter worth about $33,897,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Mosaic by 606.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,389,335 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $37,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192,602 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Mosaic by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,672,283 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $90,265,000 after acquiring an additional 921,924 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company's stock.

Mosaic Price Performance

NYSE:MOS traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $33.67. 5,408,495 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,899,220. The company has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.99. The Mosaic Company has a 12 month low of $22.36 and a 12 month high of $38.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $34.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.78.

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

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Mosaic's payout ratio is presently 29.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mosaic from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $43.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Mosaic in a report on Monday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $36.42.

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.