Jennison Associates LLC Has $470,000 Stock Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 61.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,150 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 8,117 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC's holdings in Cabot were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cabot during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Cabot by 53.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cabot by 197.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 35.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Cabot Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CBT traded down $0.33 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $86.00. The company had a trading volume of 424,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,884. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.19. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $78.61 and a 1-year high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. Research analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Cabot's payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In related news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total transaction of $1,649,599.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. This trade represents a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total transaction of $96,655.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.03% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on CBT shares. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $102.00.

About Cabot

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.