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 given a dividend of 0.22 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

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 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 Trading Up 0.9 %

MOS stock traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $24.28. 4,801,975 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,377,309. Mosaic has a one year low of $23.60 and a one year high of $37.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a PE ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $26.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.12.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, CIBC started coverage on shares of Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.40.

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.