Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 55,380 Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 55,380 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $5,057,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Cabot at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cabot by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cabot by 1,685.1% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $226,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $226,000. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CBT. Mizuho decreased their price target 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Cabot from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.00.

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Cabot Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of CBT traded down $1.84 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $82.26. The stock had a trading volume of 217,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 377,920. Cabot Co. has a 1 year low of $79.57 and a 1 year high of $117.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock's 50 day moving average is $85.71 and its 200 day moving average is $98.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. As a group, analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.