Nomura Holdings Inc. Invests $257,000 in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 10,464 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MOS. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Mosaic in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Tobam acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Ethos Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mosaic during the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 115.1% during the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 3,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 shares during the period. 77.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on MOS shares. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Mosaic from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of Mosaic in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, CIBC raised their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.58.

Mosaic Price Performance

NYSE MOS opened at $35.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.02. The Mosaic Company has a 12-month low of $22.36 and a 12-month high of $35.96.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Mosaic Company will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mosaic Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 5th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 5th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 75.86%.

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.