Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $91.80.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cabot from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karen A. Kalita sold 13,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.73, for a total value of $1,400,211.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 34,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,490,559.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cabot by 143.1% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Cabot by 81.8% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Cabot by 372.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 505 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CBT opened at $89.54 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $97.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.33, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.20. Cabot has a one year low of $64.51 and a one year high of $103.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Cabot had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cabot will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This is a positive change from Cabot’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.77%.

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.