Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cabot currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.00.

Cabot Trading Down 0.6 %

CBT opened at $85.51 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Cabot has a one year low of $78.61 and a one year high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 EPS 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%. Analysts predict that Cabot will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot declared that its board has authorized 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. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cabot Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Cabot by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in Cabot by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in Cabot by 53.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Cabot by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC increased its position in Cabot by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

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.