Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Compass Minerals International in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised Compass Minerals International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Compass Minerals International from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $19.67.

Compass Minerals International Price Performance

CMP opened at $17.38 on Friday. Compass Minerals International has a fifty-two week low of $8.60 and a fifty-two week high of $22.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $18.20 and a 200 day moving average of $19.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.55, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market cap of $724.41 million, a P/E ratio of -9.05 and a beta of 1.16.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last released its earnings results on Monday, December 8th. The basic materials company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by ($0.02). Compass Minerals International had a negative net margin of 6.42% and a negative return on equity of 8.22%. The company had revenue of $227.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $223.72 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.77) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Compass Minerals International will post -0.53 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Compass Minerals International

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMP. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 95.0% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 11.2% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 7,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position 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 valued at $192,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in Compass Minerals International by 37.6% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 12,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 1,098 shares during the period. 99.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Compass Minerals International Company Profile

Compass Minerals International, Inc, provides essential minerals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Salt and Plant Nutrition. The Salt segment produces, markets, and sells sodium chloride and magnesium chloride, including rock salt, mechanically and solar evaporated salt, and brine and flake magnesium chloride products; and purchases potassium chloride and calcium chloride to sell as finished products or to blend with sodium chloride to produce specialty products.