Benchmark Begins Coverage on Compass (NYSE:COMP)

Key Points

• Benchmark initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $14.00 price target, implying roughly a 76% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst consensus is moderately positive—nine Buy, four Hold and one Sell—with an average price target of $13.67.
• Compass trades near $7.95 (market cap ~$5.9B), reported a Q4 EPS miss (‑$0.07) and negative margins, and its CFO sold about 99,986 shares in January.

Analysts at Benchmark began coverage on shares of Compass (NYSE:COMP - Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark's price objective suggests a potential upside of 76.19% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on COMP. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Compass in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Compass from $12.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Compass from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Compass in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Compass from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Compass has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.67.

Compass Price Performance

NYSE COMP opened at $7.95 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a PE ratio of -79.45 and a beta of 2.57. Compass has a fifty-two week low of $5.66 and a fifty-two week high of $13.95.

Compass (NYSE:COMP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($0.01). Compass had a negative net margin of 0.84% and a negative return on equity of 7.99%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Compass will post 0.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Scott R. Wahlers sold 99,986 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.03, for a total transaction of $1,202,831.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 250,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,008,378.19. This trade represents a 28.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Compass Company Profile

Compass, Inc is a technology-driven real estate brokerage firm that provides a full suite of services for home buyers, sellers and renters. Utilizing a proprietary software platform, the company equips its network of licensed real estate agents with data analytics, marketing automation and client relationship tools designed to enhance efficiency and transaction transparency.

Founded in 2012 by Ori Allon and Robert Reffkin, Compass has grown from a single office in New York City to serve more than 300 markets across the United States.

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