Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on CBT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded 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. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.00.

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of CBT traded down $0.95 on Tuesday, hitting $84.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 576,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 404,771. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 11.23, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Cabot has a fifty-two week low of $81.24 and a fifty-two week high of $117.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.05.

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

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.84%.

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

Institutional Trading of Cabot

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CBT. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Cabot by 63.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,363 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,941,000 after buying an additional 6,749 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Cabot by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,729 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 810 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Cabot by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 40,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $4,554,000 after buying an additional 7,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 81,172 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $9,073,000 after buying an additional 10,170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

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.