Mosaic Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 15,903 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 93% compared to the average daily volume of 8,235 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on MOS. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho increased their price target on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Piper Sandler upgraded Mosaic from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $26.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday. CIBC started coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 23,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in Mosaic by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,958 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC increased its stake in shares of Mosaic by 23.2% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 5.1% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 8,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Mosaic by 5.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mosaic Stock Up 5.9 %

MOS stock traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $26.29. 2,633,096 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,718,172. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.75. The company has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 23.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. Mosaic has a twelve month low of $23.56 and a twelve month high of $33.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.88%.

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.