Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on MOS. CIBC increased their price objective on Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Mosaic from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Mosaic from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Mosaic in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Mosaic from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Six 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.58.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of MOS stock opened at $37.29 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $34.70 and a 200 day moving average of $29.05. Mosaic has a 52 week low of $22.36 and a 52 week high of $38.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.14, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.91% and a net margin of 3.32%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Mosaic will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mosaic

In other news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 128,546 shares in the company, valued at $4,592,948.58. This trade 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 is available through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MOS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter valued at $97,363,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Mosaic by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,507,131 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $332,005,000 after buying an additional 3,058,243 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Mosaic by 42.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,979,380 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $215,540,000 after buying an additional 2,368,094 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Mosaic by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,041,218 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $271,382,000 after buying an additional 2,151,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Mosaic in the 1st quarter worth about $54,953,000. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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