Eastern Bank Has $23.95 Million Stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Eastern Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 262,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Eastern Bank owned 0.48% of Cabot worth $23,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in Cabot in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 53.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cabot by 197.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Cabot by 33.4% in the second 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. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Cabot by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CBT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho reduced their price objective 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $102.00.

Cabot Stock Performance

CBT stock traded up $2.51 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $89.22. The stock had a trading volume of 307,150 shares, compared to its average volume of 302,450. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a PE ratio of 13.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.40. Cabot Co. has a fifty-two week low of $70.63 and a fifty-two week high of $117.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.36.

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

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cabot's payout ratio is 25.52%.

Cabot declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In other news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total transaction of $96,655.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,742 shares of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,833,749.21. This trade represents a 40.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock worth $5,751,534. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Cabot 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.