Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Short Interest Update

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,290,000 shares, a drop of 5.4% from the November 15th total of 2,420,000 shares. Currently, 4.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 371,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total value of $4,005,279.57. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,833,749.21. This represents a 40.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cabot by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 33.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 475 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Cabot by 53.9% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its position in Cabot by 4.4% in the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 3,162 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cabot Price Performance

CBT traded down $1.82 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $100.09. 394,690 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 345,591. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.32. Cabot has a 52-week low of $70.63 and a 52-week high of $117.46. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.01). Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cabot will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

Cabot announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CBT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $105.00.

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.