Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 6,950 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 6,950 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. owned 0.07% of Cabot worth $3,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 2.1% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $606,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Cabot by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cabot by 33.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 475 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased 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 buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were 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 directly owns 69,449 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 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 represents a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534. 3.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cabot Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:CBT traded down $1.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $86.65. The company had a trading volume of 366,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 297,770. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $70.63 and a fifty-two week high of $117.46. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.21. The business's fifty day moving average is $102.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.38.

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

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Cabot's dividend payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CBT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $102.00.

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.