Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 79,446 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 15,957 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Mosaic were worth $1,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. grew its position in Mosaic by 43.2% in the fourth quarter. Blackhawk Capital Partners LLC. now owns 14,537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 4,383 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 96,560 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,373,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Mosaic by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 203,590 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,004,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in Mosaic by 190.8% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,593,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,178,000 after buying an additional 1,045,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV raised its stake in Mosaic by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV now owns 9,524 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. 77.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on MOS shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Mosaic from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. CIBC started coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays downgraded Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.80.

Mosaic Stock Performance

MOS opened at $23.90 on Friday. The Mosaic Company has a 1-year low of $23.05 and a 1-year high of $33.44. The stock has a market cap of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Mosaic Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 6th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. Mosaic’s dividend payout ratio is 77.88%.

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.