State Street Corp Lowers Stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

State Street Corp decreased its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,095,010 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 5,604 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 3.82% of Cabot worth $234,159,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CBT. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Cabot by 15.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 45,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $5,032,000 after purchasing an additional 5,898 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cabot in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $247,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $288,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Cabot during the third quarter valued at approximately $748,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cabot by 107.2% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 21,040 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,346,000 after acquiring an additional 10,888 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CBT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho increased their price target on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Cabot has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $105.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total transaction of $4,005,279.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,627 shares in the company, valued at $5,833,749.21. The trade was a 40.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total value of $1,649,599.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at $7,865,099.25. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CBT traded down $0.92 on Thursday, hitting $104.09. 244,163 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 345,620. 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's 50 day moving average price is $110.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.28. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $70.63 and a 1-year high of $117.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Cabot's payout ratio is 25.52%.

Cabot announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management 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.