The Dividend Daily

Goldman Sachs announced on Friday that they have reiterated a “Buy” rating for agricultural product producer, Monsanto Company(MON).

The firm reported that it has reaffirmed a “Buy” rating, and a $110 price target for MON. This price target suggests a 19% increase from the stock’s current price of $90.65.

An analyst from the firm commented, “the strong relative product performance coupled with ongoing commercial ramp for its higher margin reduced refuge corn and RR2 soybean, elevated crop prices and some recent pricing momentum for glyphosate suggest another strong earnings year and market share gains for FY2013. Investors will also take comfort from the positive developments regarding the Department of Justice’s formal investigation, the rejection of Prop 37 in California and some progress on Brazilian RR1 patent issues. MON offers attractive EPS growth with limited impact from fiscal cliffs, Chinese leadership changes and European economic malaise. We anticipate another rewarding year of ‘beat and raise’ earnings results and reiterate our CL-Buy designation on MON.”

Monsanto shares were mostly flat during premarket trading Monday. The stock is up 29% YTD.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Monsanto Company (MON) have a 1.65% dividend yield, based on Friday’s closing stock price of $90.69. The stock has technical support in the $84-$85 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $93-$97 price levels.

Monsanto Company(MON) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars.

Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.