Prudential Financial Inc. Decreases Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 54.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 81,008 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 96,465 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Cabot were worth $7,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CBT. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Cabot by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $69,521,000 after acquiring an additional 135,119 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,323,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $120,835,000 after purchasing an additional 103,380 shares during the period. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. bought a new stake in shares of Cabot in the fourth quarter worth about $6,228,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 103.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,699,000 after purchasing an additional 57,907 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,057,000. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CBT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

Cabot Trading Down 2.2 %

CBT opened at $82.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Cabot Co. has a 52 week low of $79.57 and a 52 week high of $117.46. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average of $85.71 and a 200-day moving average of $98.16.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.79% and a net margin of 10.60%. Equities research analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Cabot’s payout ratio is 22.84%.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.