Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by 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 assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.40.

A number of research firms have recently commented on CMP. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Compass Minerals International from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Loop Capital cut Compass Minerals International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Compass Minerals International from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Compass Minerals International from $75.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 11th.

Insider Activity at Compass Minerals International

In other Compass Minerals International news, Director Joseph E. Reece acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 22nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $21.24 per share, with a total value of $106,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,840. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 257.2% in the first quarter. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,071 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 31,012 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in Compass Minerals International in the first quarter valued at about $289,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 117.9% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 2,376 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 140,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,547,000 after acquiring an additional 19,455 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,364 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,849 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.78% of the company’s stock.

Compass Minerals International Price Performance

CMP opened at $13.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.29. 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 cap of $555.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.13. Compass Minerals International has a 12-month low of $13.10 and a 12-month high of $39.78.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $341.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $352.84 million. Compass Minerals International had a positive return on equity of 4.56% and a negative net margin of 4.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Compass Minerals International will post 0.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Compass Minerals International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 20th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Compass Minerals International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -41.10%.

Compass Minerals International Company Profile

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.