Wall Street Zen Downgrades Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) to Hold

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Mosaic from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Mosaic from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Mosaic from $42.00 to $39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.42.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $33.70 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.99. Mosaic has a twelve month low of $22.36 and a twelve month high of $38.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $34.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.84.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) 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). Mosaic had a return on equity of 4.74% and a net margin of 8.35%.The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MOS. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 9,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 2,087 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,379,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 447,748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,004,000 after purchasing an additional 174,748 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 100,205 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,463,000 after purchasing an additional 15,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mosaic in the fourth quarter worth approximately $257,000. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.