Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Short Interest Down 5.6% in August

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,180,000 shares, a drop of 5.6% from the August 15th total of 1,250,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 312,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Compass Minerals International

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Compass Minerals International by 43.0% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,518,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $346,506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660,353 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Compass Minerals International by 1.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,877,951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $149,418,000 after acquiring an additional 47,528 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Compass Minerals International by 38.9% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,603,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $163,456,000 after acquiring an additional 728,597 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its position in Compass Minerals International by 3.2% during the second quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 1,440,347 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,972,000 after acquiring an additional 44,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shapiro Capital Management LLC raised its position in Compass Minerals International by 17.7% during the second quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 1,084,997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,890,000 after acquiring an additional 163,100 shares in the last quarter. 92.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Compass Minerals International Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of CMP traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.98. The stock had a trading volume of 270,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 348,494. Compass Minerals International has a fifty-two week low of $27.64 and a fifty-two week high of $47.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.23. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 126.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $1.17. Compass Minerals International had a net margin of 0.91% and a return on equity of 5.28%. The company had revenue of $207.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.21 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.16) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Compass Minerals International will post 0.65 EPS for the current year.

Compass Minerals International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 20th. Investors of record on Monday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 8th. Compass Minerals International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 272.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research note on Monday, July 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Compass Minerals International from $50.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.00.

Compass Minerals International Company Profile

Compass Minerals International, Inc, produces and sells essential minerals primarily 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.