Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 27.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 55,426 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.27% of Cabot worth $16,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Cabot by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $606,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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. raised its holdings in 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 last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 4.4% during the second quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 3,162 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Cabot Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE CBT traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $108.81. 234,281 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 343,947. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $70.63 and a 1-year 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. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.14, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.20.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The business's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho upped their target price on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cabot presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 5,457 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.58, for a total transaction of $548,865.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 61,688 shares in the company, valued at $6,204,579.04. This trade represents a 8.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 1,201 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.19, for a total value of $127,534.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 96,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,194,240. This represents a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 98,855 shares of company stock worth $10,737,833. Corporate 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.