Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 710,608 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 3,175 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.31% of Cabot worth $64,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at about $271,000. Versor Investments LP increased its holdings in Cabot by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 3,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cabot by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,864 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,005,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Cabot during the 4th quarter worth approximately $512,000. Finally, Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Cabot during the 4th quarter worth approximately $274,000. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CBT shares. StockNews.com downgraded Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cabot has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CBT opened at $81.04 on Thursday. Cabot Co. has a twelve month low of $79.57 and a twelve month high of $117.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.76.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, equities research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot declared that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

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.