Mosaic Manages Positive Cargill Share Buyback (MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS) is joining in on the stock buyback bandwagon.  This is not a traditional share repurchase in the open market because the 21.3 million shares being repurchased are actually from the Margaret A. Cargill Trusts.  That entity has sold twice in the last year and this is effectively the third sale for about $1.2 billion this round.

Mosaic has a market value of roughly $24.4 billion, so another 5% of the potential float will now not be hitting the market.  Certainly not a traditional buyback, but shares are responding positively.

The trusts were selling 18 million shares of Mosaic upon its entrance into the S&P 500 Index in September and that effectively killed the gains that would have been seen from normal index buying. It was also during a time when the market was sliding lower. The sale earlier in the year was roughly $6 billion.

On last look, Mosaic shares are up 4.5% at $57.02 in active pre-market trading and the 52-week range is $44.86 to $89.24.

JON C. OGG