Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP)

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 5,005 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 553% compared to the average daily volume of 767 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Compass Minerals International

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CMP. Tsfg LLC acquired a new stake in Compass Minerals International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Compass Minerals International by 629.4% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 2,077 shares in the last quarter. Denver PWM LLC boosted its stake in Compass Minerals International by 33.8% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 3,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 946 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Compass Minerals International by 247.7% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 2,928 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Compass Minerals International in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,000. 99.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CMP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Compass Minerals International from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $13.00 to $15.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Compass Minerals International from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Compass Minerals International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Compass Minerals International Trading Down 7.0 %

Compass Minerals International stock traded down $0.79 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $10.48. The stock had a trading volume of 436,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 601,690. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67. Compass Minerals International has a 52-week low of $7.51 and a 52-week high of $23.59. The firm has a market cap of $434.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.65 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average of $11.94 and a 200 day moving average of $11.97.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by ($0.50). Compass Minerals International had a negative return on equity of 10.00% and a negative net margin of 15.10%. On average, analysts anticipate that Compass Minerals International will post -0.53 earnings per share 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.