Mizuho Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Stock Price

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) had its price target reduced by Mizuho from $122.00 to $110.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the specialty chemicals company's stock.

Separately, 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. One investment 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, Cabot currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $102.00.

Cabot Stock Up 0.0 %

Cabot stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $88.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 333,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 287,339. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $103.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.08. Cabot has a 12 month low of $70.63 and a 12 month high of $117.46. The company has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. The business's revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cabot will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.52%.

Cabot declared that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Cabot news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was 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 $7,865,099.25. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total value of $96,655.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,571.08. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534 over the last ninety days. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CBT. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in Cabot by 11.2% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 5,205 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Cabot by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,517 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,426,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cabot by 75.4% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 19,038 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,749,000 after acquiring an additional 8,187 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cabot during the second quarter worth $213,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 7.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 976,709 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $89,750,000 after purchasing an additional 66,171 shares during the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.