The Mosaic Company (MOS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.22 on December 18th

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share by the basic materials company on Friday, December 18th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 4th.

Mosaic has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 7 consecutive years. Mosaic has a dividend payout ratio of 32.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Mosaic to earn $1.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.2%.

Mosaic Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NYSE MOS opened at $17.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a PE ratio of -8.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Mosaic has a 1 year low of $16.99 and a 1 year high of $32.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $22.51 and its 200-day moving average is $22.65.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. Mosaic had a negative net margin of 5.21% and a positive return on equity of 3.77%. Mosaic’s revenue was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Mosaic will post 0.34 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MOS shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Mosaic from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Mosaic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Mizuho cut their price target on Mosaic from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Mosaic from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.50.

Mosaic Company Profile

The Mosaic Company is a global producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients. Its products help farmers supply crops with essential nutrients, including phosphorus and potassium, and are sold under brands such as MicroEssentials, Aspire and K-Mag.

Mosaic operates an integrated fertilizer business that includes phosphate rock mining, processing and manufacturing, as well as potash mining and production. The company also produces animal feed ingredients and other products derived from phosphate operations.