Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Short Interest Update

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,740,000 shares, an increase of 19.7% from the January 31st total of 2,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 409,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.7 days. Currently, 5.1% of the company's shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 197.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cabot by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 808 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Cabot by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 831 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company's stock.

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Cabot Stock Up 0.9 %

CBT stock traded up $0.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $84.84. The company had a trading volume of 540,064 shares, compared to its average volume of 425,772. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.13. Cabot has a fifty-two week low of $79.57 and a fifty-two week high of $117.46.

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

Cabot announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CBT shares. StockNews.com raised Cabot from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cabot has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.