Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on CMP. Wall Street Zen raised Compass Minerals International from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Compass Minerals International from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Loop Capital set a $24.00 price target on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Compass Minerals International from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Compass Minerals International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.00.

Compass Minerals International Price Performance

Shares of Compass Minerals International stock opened at $23.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The company has a market cap of $991.83 million, a PE ratio of -25.75 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $22.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.91. Compass Minerals International has a fifty-two week low of $8.60 and a fifty-two week high of $27.00.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.32. Compass Minerals International had a negative net margin of 2.82% and a positive return on equity of 8.69%. The business had revenue of $396.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $329.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.55) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Compass Minerals International will post -0.53 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMP. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings 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 worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 4,740 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position 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. CWM LLC grew its stake in Compass Minerals International by 95.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 68.2% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 11,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 4,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 14.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 56,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,127,000 after buying an additional 6,894 shares in the last quarter. 99.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Compass Minerals International

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.