Stock in Focus: Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON)

[BusinessWire] Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) announced today that its Board of Directors has designated Friday, Jan. 30, 2015 as the date of the next annual meeting of shareowners.Monsanto’s annual meeting will be held at the company’s headquarters facility in suburban St. Louis. Additional meeting details will be included in the company’s proxy statement, which will be available in December. The record date for Monsanto’s 2015 annual meeting of share owners is Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014.Stock PerformanceTaking a look at the company’s recent performance, Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) reported Second quarter earnings for fiscal 2014 on October 08^th. The company reported actual earnings per share of ($0.27) against the consensus Street estimate of ($0.23). Monsanto Company posted revenue of $2.63 billion against estimates of $2.41 billion.Monsanto Company (MON) is currently valued at $56.67 billion and closed the last trading session at $112.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $114.33 and a 200-day moving average of $116.52.

Is this a Buying Opportunity?There are currently sixteen analysts that we track that cover the stock. Of those sixteen, twelve have a Buy rating, three have a Hold rating and one has a Sell rating. On a consensus basis this yields a score of 2.69 and a Buy. The combined price objective of these covering analysts is $130.55, which represents a 20.63% upside difference to the last closing price.The most recent analyst activity consisted of Morgan Stanley Downgrade Reiterated Rating their Buy -> Outperform stance on the company. Morgan Stanley has a price target of $148.00 to $141.00 which represents an upside of 19.99% from the last closing price. On the date of the report, the stock closed at $117.51.Another research firm weighing in recently was Jefferies Group who Lower Price Target, on the stock. On August 25^th Jefferies Group upgrade their price target on the stock $140.00 to $130.00, a 10.63% upside to the current price. On the day of the report, MON shares closed at $117.51.Company ProfileMonsanto Company (NYSE:MON), together with its subsidiaries, provides agricultural products for farmers worldwide. It operates in two segments, Seeds and Genomics, and Agricultural Productivity. The Seeds and Genomics segment produces row crop seeds, including corn, soybean, cotton, and canola seeds principally under the DEKALB, Channel, Asgrow, and Deltapine brands; and vegetable seeds consisting of tomato, pepper, melon, cucumber, pumpkin, squash, beans, broccoli, onions, and lettuce seeds under the Seminis and De Ruiter brands. This segment also develops biotechnology traits that assist farmers in controlling insects and weeds in corn, cotton, and soybean crops under the SmartStax etc.