Mizuho Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Stock

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) had its price objective boosted by Mizuho from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MOS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Monday, August 12th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.22.

Mosaic Stock Up 0.2 %

MOS stock opened at $26.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.41 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Mosaic has a twelve month low of $24.11 and a twelve month high of $38.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.38 and its 200-day moving average is $27.89.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Mosaic’s revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Mosaic will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mosaic

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MOS. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Mosaic by 2.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,351,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $228,018,000 after purchasing an additional 178,844 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 23,265 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $623,000 after buying an additional 2,714 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 71.5% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 45,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after buying an additional 19,160 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Mosaic by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 99,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after buying an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Mosaic during the 3rd quarter valued at $511,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.