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

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five analysts 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 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $91.80.

CBT has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cabot from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th.

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CBT opened at $100.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $96.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.76. Cabot has a fifty-two week low of $64.51 and a fifty-two week high of $103.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.12. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 11.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cabot will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. Cabot’s payout ratio is 21.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Karen A. Kalita sold 13,764 shares of the company’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 $3,490,559.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cabot

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 3,162 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Cabot by 60.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 416 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cabot by 143.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 196 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.