AlphaQuest LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 421.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,532 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,211 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $2,057,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cabot by 197.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Cabot by 40.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,549 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,445,000 after acquiring an additional 9,014 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot in the 3rd quarter valued at $458,000. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot in the third quarter worth $19,643,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 20,489.3% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 5,737 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.00.

Cabot Stock Up 0.9 %

CBT opened at $84.84 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $87.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00. Cabot Co. has a fifty-two week low of $79.57 and a fifty-two week high of $117.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.27, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.79% and a net margin of 10.60%. On average, research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

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.