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

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis 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 by an average of 58.7% annually over the last three years. Mosaic has a dividend 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 Price Performance

Mosaic stock opened at $24.27 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $26.30 and its 200 day moving average is $27.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Mosaic has a one year low of $23.60 and a one year high of $37.29.

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 firm had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.17 billion. Mosaic had a net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Mosaic will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MOS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Mosaic from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Mizuho upped their price target on Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Mosaic in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. CIBC initiated coverage on Mosaic in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Mosaic in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus 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.