The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) saw a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,940,000 shares, a growth of 36.1% from the March 31st total of 5,100,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,790,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MOS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank upgraded Mosaic from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lowered Mosaic from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. TheStreet downgraded Mosaic from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho lowered Mosaic from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.27.

Mosaic Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $30.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.22. Mosaic has a 12 month low of $29.25 and a 12 month high of $43.99.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.82 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 8.51% and a return on equity of 9.69%. The company’s revenue was down 29.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Mosaic Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 6th. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mosaic

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Mosaic by 95.0% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 42,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,504,000 after buying an additional 20,585 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mosaic by 526.1% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Mosaic by 47.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 58,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,071,000 after acquiring an additional 18,848 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC grew its position in Mosaic by 1.8% in the third quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 59,706 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 16.7% during the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,255 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.54% of the company’s stock.

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.