Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) Rating Increased 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 research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CMP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Compass Minerals International in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Compass Minerals International from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Compass Minerals International from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research cut Compass Minerals International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Compass Point set a $30.00 price target on Compass Minerals International in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.80.

Compass Minerals International Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:CMP opened at $31.91 on Friday. 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 has a 1 year low of $16.40 and a 1 year high of $32.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 212.70 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.27.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 0.55%.Compass Minerals International’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Compass Minerals International will post 0.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Compass Minerals International

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMP. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 49,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 4,740 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $192,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 191,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,850,000 after purchasing an additional 26,531 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 39,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 5,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Compass Minerals International in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $267,000. 99.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.