Fruth Investment Management Cuts Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Fruth Investment Management reduced its position in shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,650 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Mosaic by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,351,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $228,018,000 after acquiring an additional 178,844 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Mosaic by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,279,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,817,000 after buying an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Mosaic by 44.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,189,000 after acquiring an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,939,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $78,717,000 after purchasing an additional 359,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its position in shares of Mosaic by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 2,751,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $73,687,000 after purchasing an additional 668,347 shares during the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mosaic Price Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $27.79 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.67. The Mosaic Company 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 current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.83 billion, a PE ratio of 24.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.34.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its earnings results 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). Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 74.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MOS shares. Barclays downgraded shares of Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.80.

Mosaic Profile

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.