Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Raises Holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 67.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 79,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 31,766 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $2,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MOS. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Mosaic during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,610,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 1,815.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,682,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $346,743,000 after purchasing an additional 10,124,427 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 647.8% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 32,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 28,251 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,240,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,856,000 after purchasing an additional 71,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Mosaic by 131.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 38,894 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 22,084 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Stock Performance

NYSE:MOS opened at $25.44 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.35, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.84. The Mosaic Company has a twelve month low of $24.11 and a twelve month high of $38.30.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MOS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mosaic currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.22.

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.