SailingStone Capital Partners LLC Buys 308,957 Shares of Compass Minerals International, Inc. $CMP

SailingStone Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,414,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 308,957 shares during the quarter. Compass Minerals International accounts for 26.6% of SailingStone Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC owned 0.13% of Compass Minerals International worth $106,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International by 14.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,775,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,282,000 after purchasing an additional 354,960 shares in the last quarter. Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International by 201.7% during the second quarter. Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. now owns 1,280,648 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,728,000 after purchasing an additional 856,149 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International by 35.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,236,884 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,748,000 after purchasing an additional 320,796 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 800,364 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,719,000 after purchasing an additional 121,634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International by 4,579.9% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 776,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,247,000 after purchasing an additional 759,715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.78% of the company’s stock.

Compass Minerals International Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:CMP opened at $30.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.06. Compass Minerals International, Inc. has a one year low of $16.40 and a one year high of $34.50. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.43. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 206.37 and a beta of 1.23.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $453.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $418.97 million. Compass Minerals International had a return on equity of 8.99% and a net margin of 0.55%.The company’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Compass Minerals International, Inc. will post 0.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Compass Minerals International from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings cut Compass Minerals International from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Compass Point set a $30.00 price target on Compass Minerals International in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Compass Minerals International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Compass Minerals International in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.80.

Compass Minerals International Company Profile

Compass Minerals International, Inc is a global producer of essential mineral-based products, primarily known for its salt and plant nutrition portfolios. The company’s deicing salts are used by municipalities and commercial customers across North America to maintain safer roadways in winter months. In addition, its water conditioning salts serve both residential and industrial users, supporting water treatment systems that remove hard minerals to protect plumbing and equipment.

Beyond conventional salt products, Compass Minerals has developed a specialty plant nutrition business focused on sulfate of potash (SOP), a premium fertilizer that provides both potassium and sulfur to crops.