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

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 95,703 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 758% compared to the average daily volume of 11,160 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MOS shares. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Mosaic from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price objective on Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.58.

Mosaic Trading Down 0.3%

MOS stock opened at $36.84 on Thursday. Mosaic has a 1-year low of $22.36 and a 1-year high of $37.69. 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 company has a market capitalization of $11.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.57.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Walter F. Precourt III sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.73, for a total transaction of $643,140.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 128,546 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,592,948.58. This represents a 12.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 169.3% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the first quarter valued at $27,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 102.3% in the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.