Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday.

CBT has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cabot from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Cabot from a buy rating to a hold rating and increased their price target for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $91.80.

Cabot Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:CBT opened at $96.13 on Monday. Cabot has a 52-week low of $63.73 and a 52-week high of $103.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.33. The company has a market cap of $5.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.26.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.12. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 11.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cabot will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change from Cabot’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is 21.77%.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In related news, SVP Karen A. Kalita sold 13,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.73, for a total value of $1,400,211.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 34,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,490,559.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cabot

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CBT. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in shares of Cabot by 17.5% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 1.4% during the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 10,851 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 143.1% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 8.8% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,464 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 81.8% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cabot Company 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.