Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,484 Shares of Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 42,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,484 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Compass Minerals International were worth $1,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CMP. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 123.8% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 15,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $953,000 after buying an additional 8,391 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 13,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $833,000 after buying an additional 1,048 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,615 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 40.0% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 53,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,410,000 after buying an additional 5,926 shares during the period. 99.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on CMP. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Compass Minerals International from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Compass Minerals International from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Compass Minerals International from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded shares of Compass Minerals International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $29.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Compass Minerals International presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Compass Minerals International news, Director Joseph E. Reece bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $21.24 per share, for a total transaction of $106,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,000 shares in the company, valued at $339,840. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Compass Minerals International Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:CMP opened at $14.30 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98, a current ratio of 3.07 and a quick ratio of 1.15. Compass Minerals International, Inc. has a one year low of $13.54 and a one year high of $39.78. The company has a market cap of $590.73 million, a PE ratio of -9.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.13.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.19). Compass Minerals International had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 4.97%. The business had revenue of $341.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.84 million. The company’s revenue was down 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Compass Minerals International, Inc. will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Compass Minerals International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. Compass Minerals International’s dividend payout ratio is presently -41.10%.

Compass Minerals International 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.