The Mosaic Company to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.21 (NYSE:MOS)

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, December 19th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th.

Mosaic has increased its dividend by an average of 58.7% per year over the last three years. Mosaic has a dividend payout ratio of 32.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Mosaic to earn $2.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.8%.

Mosaic Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MOS traded up $0.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $26.32. The stock had a trading volume of 3,365,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,354,854. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $26.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.96. The company has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Mosaic has a 12 month low of $24.11 and a 12 month high of $38.30.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. Mosaic’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.22.

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.