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

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th.

Mosaic has raised its dividend payment by an average of 58.7% annually over the last three years. Mosaic has a payout ratio of 32.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

MOS traded up $0.20 during trading on Thursday, reaching $26.32. 3,365,531 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,354,862. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $24.11 and a 12-month high of $38.30. The company has a market cap of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.35.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a return on equity of 6.00% and a net margin of 3.24%. Mosaic’s quarterly revenue was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Mosaic will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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