The Goldman Sachs Group Initiates Coverage on Mosaic (NYSE:MOS)

The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) in a report issued on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $31.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $34.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Oppenheimer started coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Mosaic from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, CIBC started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.64.

Mosaic Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $25.91 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.28 and a 200 day moving average of $26.19. The company has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $22.48 and a 12-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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 160.00%.

Institutional Trading of Mosaic

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 110.8% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,117 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Mosaic in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Tobam purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Mosaic during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Mosaic by 180,900.0% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 1,809 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mosaic

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.