Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Short Interest Down 9.1% in January

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a drop of 9.1% from the January 15th total of 2,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 749,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Compass Minerals International from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Compass Minerals International from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Compass Minerals International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Compass Minerals International

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Compass Minerals International by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,427,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $61,055,000 after purchasing an additional 652,129 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Compass Minerals International by 642.5% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,058,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,909,000 after purchasing an additional 915,983 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP grew its stake in Compass Minerals International by 23.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 969,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,648,000 after purchasing an additional 186,717 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Compass Minerals International by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 785,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,842,000 after purchasing an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Michelson Medical Research Foundation Inc. grew its stake in Compass Minerals International by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Michelson Medical Research Foundation Inc. now owns 600,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,750,000 after purchasing an additional 95,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.78% of the company’s stock.

Compass Minerals International Trading Up 5.7 %

NYSE:CMP traded up $0.64 on Tuesday, reaching $11.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 999,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 586,281. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.87. The firm has a market cap of $492.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.21. Compass Minerals International has a 12-month low of $7.51 and a 12-month high of $23.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.94.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The basic materials company reported ($0.55) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.50). Compass Minerals International had a negative net margin of 19.24% and a negative return on equity of 2.15%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Compass Minerals International will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.