Copeland Capital Management LLC Acquires 135,119 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 21.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 135,119 shares during the quarter. Cabot makes up about 1.3% of Copeland Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Copeland Capital Management LLC owned 1.40% of Cabot worth $69,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cabot in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Cabot by 35.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CBT shares. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $102.00.

Insider Activity at Cabot

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total value of $1,649,599.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 69,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total transaction of $96,655.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,190 shares of company stock worth $5,751,534 in the last 90 days. 3.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cabot Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE CBT traded down $1.00 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $87.19. 181,035 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 363,216. The company has a 50 day moving average of $94.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.96, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.19. Cabot Co. has a 12 month low of $71.77 and a 12 month high of $117.46. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cabot's payout ratio is 25.52%.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.