Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Receives $26.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $26.00.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Compass Minerals International from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research cut shares of Compass Minerals International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Compass Minerals International from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Compass Point set a $30.00 price target on shares of Compass Minerals International in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Compass Minerals International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Martingale Asset Management L P increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 36,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $723,000 after buying an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in 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 valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 80.0% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 94.4% in 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 in the last quarter. 99.78% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Compass Minerals International Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMP opened at $30.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 203.73 and a beta of 1.18. Compass Minerals International has a one year low of $16.40 and a one year high of $32.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.06.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $453.20 million during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Compass Minerals International will post 0.87 EPS for the current year.

Compass Minerals International Company Profile

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.