Mosaic Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 15,903 call options on the company. This is an increase of 93% compared to the typical volume of 8,235 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MOS. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho raised 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. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, CIBC began coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.60.

Mosaic Price Performance

Mosaic stock traded up $1.46 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $26.29. The stock had a trading volume of 2,633,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,718,172. Mosaic has a 1-year low of $23.56 and a 1-year high of $33.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $25.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its 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 net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 an increase 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 3.35%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.88%.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Mosaic by 301.6% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 65,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 49,323 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 34,964 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 2,767 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,201,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 13.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 454,340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,130,000 after acquiring an additional 52,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Mosaic by 22.0% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 112,664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,256,000 after purchasing an additional 20,333 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Company 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.