The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Raises Dividend to $0.22 Per Share

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.22 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 6th. This is a positive change from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Mosaic has raised its dividend payment by an average of 58.7% per year over the last three years. Mosaic has a payout ratio of 33.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Mosaic to earn $2.14 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 39.3%.

Mosaic Price Performance

Mosaic stock traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $24.28. The company had a trading volume of 4,801,975 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,377,309. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.12. The company has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. 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 has a 1 year low of $23.60 and a 1 year high of $37.29.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.24). Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. Mosaic’s revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on MOS. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. CIBC initiated coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.40.

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.