Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) Stock Price

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $40.00 to $30.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 13.16% from the stock’s current price.

MOS has been the subject of several other research reports. Piper Sandler raised Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. CIBC assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mosaic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.09.

Mosaic Price Performance

Shares of MOS traded up $1.68 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $26.51. 3,047,733 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,769,993. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $25.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.75. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $23.56 and a 12-month high of $33.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $8.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Mosaic will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mosaic

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 68,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,693,000 after buying an additional 3,963 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Mosaic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,148,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $765,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mosaic by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 14,527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. 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.