Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 932 Shares of The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 932 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $2,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MOS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Mosaic by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,337,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $183,155,000 after buying an additional 1,628,850 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mosaic by 15.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,311,123 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $95,691,000 after acquiring an additional 435,598 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 947,500 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Mosaic by 44.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,218,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,189,000 after purchasing an additional 986,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its holdings in 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 period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MOS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer began coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. CIBC started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.40.

Mosaic Price Performance

MOS stock opened at $26.79 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $26.45 and its 200 day moving average is $27.33. The Mosaic Company has a 52 week low of $24.11 and a 52 week high of $38.30.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company’s revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is 74.34%.

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.