Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

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

CMP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Compass Minerals International from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Compass Minerals International from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Compass Point set a $30.00 target price on Compass Minerals International in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research downgraded Compass Minerals International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.80.

Compass Minerals International Price Performance

Shares of Compass Minerals International stock opened at $29.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 196.11 and a beta of 1.24. Compass Minerals International has a 12-month low of $16.40 and a 12-month high of $34.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.45.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Compass Minerals International will post 0.82 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Compass Minerals International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 36,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 5.2% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 13,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 80.0% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Compass Minerals International by 4.3% during 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 buying an additional 858 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Compass Minerals International by 94.4% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 2,216 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 1,076 shares during the period. 99.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.