Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP - Get Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,350,000 shares, a decline of 21.4% from the April 30th total of 2,990,000 shares. Currently, 7.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 737,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CMP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Compass Minerals International from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Compass Minerals International from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Compass Minerals International from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Compass Minerals International in the fourth quarter valued at $79,139,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 642.5% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 1,058,551 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $11,909,000 after buying an additional 915,983 shares during the period. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Compass Minerals International by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,427,142 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $61,055,000 after buying an additional 652,129 shares during the last quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. purchased a new position in Compass Minerals International during the fourth quarter worth about $6,394,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Compass Minerals International during the first quarter valued at about $4,279,000. 99.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Compass Minerals International Trading Up 4.7%

Shares of CMP stock traded up $0.91 on Wednesday, hitting $20.15. 681,731 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 689,138. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 2.37. Compass Minerals International has a twelve month low of $7.51 and a twelve month high of $20.75. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $14.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $836.31 million, a PE ratio of -5.10 and a beta of 1.11.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.24. Compass Minerals International had a negative net margin of 15.10% and a negative return on equity of 10.00%. The company had revenue of $494.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $413.96 million. The firm's revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Compass Minerals International will post -0.53 EPS for the current 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.