Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.80.

CMP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Compass Minerals International from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Compass Minerals International from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Compass Minerals International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Compass Point set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research report on Thursday, May 14th.

Compass Minerals International Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE CMP opened at $30.96 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $28.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 206.37 and a beta of 1.23. Compass Minerals International has a 12-month low of $16.40 and a 12-month high of $34.50.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $453.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $418.97 million. Compass Minerals International had a net margin of 0.55% and a return on equity of 8.99%. The business’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Compass Minerals International will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMP. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 10.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 49,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $464,000 after buying an additional 4,740 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 4.3% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $192,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 16.1% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 191,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,850,000 after buying an additional 26,531 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 15.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 39,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $796,000 after buying an additional 5,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Compass Minerals International in the second quarter worth $267,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.78% of the company’s stock.

About Compass Minerals International

Compass Minerals International, Inc is a global producer of essential mineral-based products, primarily known for its salt and plant nutrition portfolios. The company’s deicing salts are used by municipalities and commercial customers across North America to maintain safer roadways in winter months. In addition, its water conditioning salts serve both residential and industrial users, supporting water treatment systems that remove hard minerals to protect plumbing and equipment.

Beyond conventional salt products, Compass Minerals has developed a specialty plant nutrition business focused on sulfate of potash (SOP), a premium fertilizer that provides both potassium and sulfur to crops.