Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on CMP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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 research note on Thursday, May 14th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Compass Minerals International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Compass Minerals International from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. 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. Finally, Compass Point set a $30.00 price target on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Compass Minerals International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.80.

Compass Minerals International Price Performance

CMP opened at $31.53 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.96 and a 200-day moving average of $24.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 210.21 and a beta of 1.23. 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.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $453.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $418.97 million. Compass Minerals International had a return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 0.55%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Compass Minerals International will post 0.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Compass Minerals International

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in Compass Minerals International by 357.0% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 63,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,224,000 after buying an additional 49,793 shares during the last quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. increased its position in Compass Minerals International by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 593,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,664,000 after buying an additional 23,860 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Compass Minerals International during the third quarter worth $1,012,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Compass Minerals International by 35.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,236,884 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,748,000 after buying an additional 320,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Compass Minerals International by 105.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 45,228 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $888,000 after buying an additional 23,261 shares during the last quarter. 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.