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

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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. 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 by an average of 45.1% per year over the last three years. Mosaic has a dividend payout ratio of 38.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Mosaic to earn $2.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.0%.

Mosaic Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of MOS opened at $23.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.34. Mosaic has a 1 year low of $23.05 and a 1 year high of $33.44. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MOS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays downgraded Mosaic from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. CIBC started coverage on Mosaic in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Mosaic from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Mosaic from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of Mosaic in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mosaic has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.90.

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.