Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,470,000 shares, an increase of 26.6% from the February 13th total of 2,740,000 shares. Currently, 6.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 425,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.2 days.

Cabot Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE CBT traded down $0.38 on Friday, reaching $82.17. The company had a trading volume of 996,165 shares, compared to its average volume of 350,127. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Cabot has a 1 year low of $79.57 and a 1 year high of $117.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $86.47 and a 200-day moving average of $98.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cabot will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Cabot's payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CBT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,961,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Cabot by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 349,369 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $31,901,000 after acquiring an additional 141,050 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $69,521,000 after purchasing an additional 135,119 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,323,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $120,835,000 after purchasing an additional 103,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Cabot by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 451,513 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $41,228,000 after buying an additional 96,179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CBT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cabot from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cabot has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.00.

Cabot Company Profile

Cabot Corporation operates as a specialty chemicals and performance materials company. The company operates through two segments, Reinforcement Materials and Performance Chemicals. It offers reinforcing carbons that are used in tires as a rubber reinforcing agent and performance additive, as well as in industrial products, such as hoses, belts, extruded profiles, and molded goods; and engineered elastomer composites solutions.