Marshall Wace LLP Has $207,000 Holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Marshall Wace LLP reduced its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Free Report) by 95.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,425 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 159,514 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP's holdings in Mosaic were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Mosaic from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Mosaic from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $32.17.

Mosaic Price Performance

NYSE:MOS traded up $0.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.67. The company had a trading volume of 4,674,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,647,094. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.91, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.54. The Mosaic Company has a one year low of $22.36 and a one year high of $32.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.70 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic's payout ratio is currently 160.00%.

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.