The Mosaic Company (MOS) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 6th

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 dividend yield of 3.63%. 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 increased its dividend payment by an average of 58.7% per year over the last three years. Mosaic has a dividend payout ratio of 33.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Performance

Shares of NYSE:MOS opened at $24.27 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $23.60 and a 12-month high of $37.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $26.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.09. The firm has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a PE ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) last posted 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). The company 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 was down 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Mosaic will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. CIBC assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.