Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) Trading Down 6.4% – Time to Sell?

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) traded down 6.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $12.95 and last traded at $12.97. 117,524 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 812,940 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.85.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMP has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Compass Minerals International to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Compass Minerals International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Compass Minerals International Trading Down 5.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 2.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.70. The company has a market capitalization of $539.41 million, a P/E ratio of -6.22 and a beta of 1.11.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 17th. The basic materials company reported ($1.01) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by ($0.34). The business had revenue of $202.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $201.86 million. Compass Minerals International had a positive return on equity of 4.53% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. Sell-side analysts expect that Compass Minerals International, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Compass Minerals International

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CMP. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 16.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 19,455 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 117.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,376 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Compass Minerals International by 0.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 176,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Compass Minerals International by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 30,553 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 2,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Compass Minerals International by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 192,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,030,000 after buying an additional 31,290 shares in the last quarter. 99.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.