Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,217,576 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 44,299 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.47% of Cabot worth $567,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CBT. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in Cabot in the 4th quarter worth about $247,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cabot by 241.6% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 31,071 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,837,000 after buying an additional 21,974 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Cabot by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 5,904 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Cabot in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,315,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Cabot by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 942,273 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $86,039,000 after acquiring an additional 53,090 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Cabot from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of 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 issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.00.

Remove Ads

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of CBT stock traded down $1.45 on Friday, reaching $78.39. The stock had a trading volume of 702,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 381,238. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00. Cabot Co. has a 1 year low of $75.51 and a 1 year high of $117.46. The stock has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.38.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.84%.

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.