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

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 5,005 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 553% compared to the typical volume of 767 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Compass Minerals International

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 21,559 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Denver PWM LLC lifted its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 3,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 946 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 38,063 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $429,000 after buying an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 20,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Compass Minerals International by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 66,940 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $805,000 after buying an additional 1,482 shares in the last quarter. 99.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CMP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Compass Minerals International from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $15.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Compass Minerals International from $18.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Compass Minerals International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Compass Minerals International Price Performance

CMP traded down $0.79 on Thursday, reaching $10.48. 436,885 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 601,690. The stock has a market cap of $434.75 million, a PE ratio of -2.65 and a beta of 1.21. Compass Minerals International has a twelve month low of $7.51 and a twelve month high of $23.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $11.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.67, a current ratio of 2.37 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The basic materials company reported ($0.55) EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Compass Minerals International will post -0.53 EPS for the current year.

About Compass Minerals International

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.