Seed maker Monsanto Company (MON) on Thursday caught a big upgrade from analysts at Wells Fargo.

After a recent meeting with company management, Wells Fargo boosted its rating on MON from “Market Perform” to “Outperform” while lifting its price target range from $82-84 to $104-106.

The analyst commented, “With Chinese glyphosate challenges seemingly well behind them, we expect MON to benefit from higher seed pricing (up 5-10% in FY2013) and penetration in Latin America (through the introduction of double and triple stacked traits).”

Accordingly, Wells Fargo also lifted its earnings estimates for the company through 2013.

Monsanto shares rose $1.31, or +1.5%, in premarket trading Thursday.

The Bottom Line
Shares of Monsanto (MON) have a 1.68% dividend yield, based on last night’s closing stock price of $59.00. The stock has technical support in the $55 price area. If the shares can firm up, we see overhead resistance around the $63-$65 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.