Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Shares Acquired by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 15.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,898 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.08% of Cabot worth $5,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Cabot by 571.9% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 127,116 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $11,681,000 after buying an additional 108,197 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Cabot by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,240 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,881,000 after purchasing an additional 8,175 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in Cabot by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,363,398 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $309,063,000 after buying an additional 80,096 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cabot by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,433 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $79,070,000 after buying an additional 19,215 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cabot by 1,295.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 26,899 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 24,972 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cabot

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total value of $96,655.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock worth $5,751,534. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company's stock.

Cabot Price Performance

Cabot stock traded down $0.71 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $103.38. 396,741 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 345,833. Cabot Co. has a 12 month low of $70.63 and a 12 month high of $117.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.08. The business's 50-day moving average is $110.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.30.

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

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Cabot's payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on CBT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Cabot from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho lifted 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.