The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.22 Per Share

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is a boost from Mosaic’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

Mosaic has raised its dividend payment by an average of 58.7% annually over the last three years. Mosaic has a payout ratio of 33.6% meaning 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 Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $24.28 on Tuesday. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $23.60 and a 12-month high of $37.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last announced its quarterly 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 during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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