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

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Zacks Research upgraded Compass Minerals International from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Compass Minerals International from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $19.67.

Compass Minerals International Price Performance

Compass Minerals International stock opened at $17.38 on Friday. Compass Minerals International has a 12-month low of $8.60 and a 12-month high of $22.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $724.41 million, a PE ratio of -9.05 and a beta of 1.16.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $227.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $223.72 million. Compass Minerals International had a negative return on equity of 8.22% and a negative net margin of 6.42%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.77) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Compass Minerals International will post -0.53 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Compass Minerals International

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CMP. Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. boosted its position in Compass Minerals International by 201.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. now owns 1,280,648 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,728,000 after acquiring an additional 856,149 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Compass Minerals International in the 1st quarter worth $4,279,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International by 275.5% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 581,231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,400,000 after purchasing an additional 426,458 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International by 379.4% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 522,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,024,000 after purchasing an additional 413,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Compass Minerals International by 14.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,775,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,282,000 after purchasing an additional 354,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.78% of the company’s stock.

About Compass Minerals International

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.