Stock Update: Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) – Monsanto to pay $80 million in SEC settlement over Roundup earnings

[Reuters] – Monsanto Co (MON.N) will pay $80 million to settle civil accounting violations after it allegedly misstated its earnings in connection with its top-selling Roundup product, U.S. securities regulators said on Tuesday. The Securities and Exchange Commission also said that three accounting and sales executives have also agreed to settle charges in connection with the case. The SEC’s case against Monsanto revolves around a corporate rebate program designed to boost sales of Roundup, a popular weed killer. Read more on this. Monsanto Company (MON) , with a current value of $40.37B, started trading this morning at $91.06. A quick look at the market, the company’s stock traded between $89.84 and $92.04 with a one year range of $81.22 to $126.00. MON shares are currently priced at 17.82x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively inexpensive compared to the industry ’s 19.71x earnings multiple for the same period. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $2.16 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.28%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 19 sell-side analysts are looking at $2.84 per share, which would be $0.05 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.13 sequential decrease. In looking at the bigger picture, the full-year EPS estimate of $5.12 would be a $0.61 setback when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $5.00 Billion. If realized, that would be a 3.85% decrease over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Bernstein Initiated MON at Underperform (Sep 11, 2015). Previously, Wells Fargo downgraded MON from Outperform to Market Perform. The average price target for MON shares by the analysts covering the stock is $106.58, which is 17.04% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:MON) Similar Articles: Market Update: Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) – Farmers to Gain Access to Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Xtend™ Soybeans in 2016 Stock Update: Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) – Monsanto to cut additional 1,000 jobs, bringing total planned job cuts to 3,600 Stock Update: Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) – Monsanto Company Sets Webcasts for Biennial Investor Event