Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Cuts Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 155,355 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 6,097 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.28% of Cabot worth $17,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Cabot by 571.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 127,116 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $11,681,000 after acquiring an additional 108,197 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 101.7% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 18,107 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 9,131 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in Cabot during the first quarter worth about $1,592,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Cabot by 24.0% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,240 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $3,881,000 after buying an additional 8,175 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 2.4% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,363,398 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $309,063,000 after buying an additional 80,096 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cabot

In related news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was 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 directly owns 50,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,833,749.21. The trade was a 40.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 75,807 shares of company stock valued at $8,352,941. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Cabot Price Performance

CBT stock opened at $110.59 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $110.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.76. The firm has a market cap of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.20. 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 1 year low of $70.63 and a 1 year high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 EPS 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 company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on CBT. Mizuho boosted their price target on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $105.00.

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.