Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,943 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,114 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.14% of Cabot worth $6,934,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Cabot by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Cabot by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,116 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,943,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 50,221 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,614,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CBT opened at $88.30 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.16. Cabot Co. has a 52-week low of $80.21 and a 52-week high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.79% and a net margin of 10.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is 22.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CBT. StockNews.com raised Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.00.

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.