Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Receives $34.40 Average Target Price from Analysts

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.40.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CMP. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Compass Minerals International from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Compass Minerals International from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Compass Minerals International from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Loop Capital cut shares of Compass Minerals International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $26.00 in a report on Monday, March 4th.

Insider Transactions at Compass Minerals International

In other news, Director Joseph E. Reece bought 5,000 shares of Compass Minerals International stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 22nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $21.24 per share, for a total transaction of $106,200.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,840. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Compass Minerals International

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,615 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $667,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 105,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,580,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 3,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 40,819 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.78% of the company’s stock.

Compass Minerals International Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:CMP opened at $15.74 on Tuesday. Compass Minerals International has a 12 month low of $13.60 and a 12 month high of $39.78. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.80. The company has a current ratio of 3.07, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.98. The company has a market capitalization of $650.22 million, a P/E ratio of -10.78, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.17.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $341.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.84 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Compass Minerals International will post 0.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Compass Minerals International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Compass Minerals International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -41.10%.

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.