Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $113.36 and last traded at $113.18, with a volume of 42911 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $112.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on CBT. UBS Group dropped their target price on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cabot from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.75.

Cabot Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $104.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The company has a market cap of $6.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.19.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.99% and a net margin of 12.05%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 1,201 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.19, for a total value of $127,534.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 96,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,194,240. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Cabot news, CFO Erica Mclaughlin sold 23,274 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.79, for a total transaction of $2,322,512.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,814 shares in the company, valued at $5,968,839.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 1,201 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.19, for a total value of $127,534.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 96,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,194,240. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 71,939 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,812. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBT. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Cabot during the fourth quarter worth $258,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Cabot by 267.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 11,380 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $950,000 after purchasing an additional 8,282 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in Cabot during the fourth quarter worth $557,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 10,851 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.