Mosaic Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MOS)

by · The Markets Daily

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS – Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 18,192 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 96% compared to the average volume of 9,296 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MOS has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Mosaic in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Mosaic from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on Mosaic from $43.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mosaic currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.13.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Mosaic

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in Mosaic by 40.5% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in Mosaic by 211.6% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 32,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after buying an additional 22,270 shares during the period. Investment Research Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Mosaic during the third quarter worth about $629,000. Cambria Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Mosaic by 25.0% in the third quarter. Cambria Investment Management L.P. now owns 15,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 3,177 shares during the period. Finally, WBI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Mosaic in the third quarter valued at about $638,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

Mosaic Price Performance

NYSE:MOS traded up $1.75 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $25.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,757,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,591,380. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.25. The company has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.62, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.94. Mosaic has a twelve month low of $22.36 and a twelve month high of $38.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.87 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.46% and a net margin of 10.33%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 4th 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 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 4th. Mosaic’s payout ratio is presently 22.80%.

Mosaic Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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