The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.22

The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 6th. This is an increase from Mosaic's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

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

Mosaic stock traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $24.28. 4,801,975 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,377,309. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market cap of $7.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $26.30 and a 200 day moving average of $27.09. Mosaic has a 12-month low of $23.60 and a 12-month high of $37.29.

Mosaic (NYSE:MOS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.34 earnings per share 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 net margin of 3.24% and a return on equity of 6.00%. Mosaic's revenue for the quarter was down 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Mosaic will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MOS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Mosaic from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays reduced their target price 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, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Mosaic in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. One equities 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mosaic has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.