Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Rating Lowered to “Underweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $105.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CBT. Mizuho upped their target price on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group cut their target price on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.00.

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of CBT opened at $109.20 on Monday. Cabot has a 12 month low of $70.63 and a 12 month high of $117.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $109.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $102.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.20.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The business had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Cabot will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total value of $96,655.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at $7,865,099.25. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,855 shares of company stock worth $10,737,833 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CBT. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in Cabot by 577.1% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 269,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $30,096,000 after purchasing an additional 229,500 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $19,643,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 626,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,996,000 after buying an additional 146,179 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Cabot by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 521,486 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,081,000 after buying an additional 97,101 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.