Isthmus Partners LLC Grows Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Isthmus Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,072 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 187 shares during the quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cabot by 197.9% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 831 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of CBT stock opened at $86.80 on Tuesday. Cabot Co. has a 52-week low of $79.57 and a 52-week high of $117.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $87.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.03.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Cabot declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program 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. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.