Short Interest in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Decreases By 5.8%

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,420,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the October 31st total of 2,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 369,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.6 days. Approximately 4.5% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cabot news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total transaction of $96,655.10. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total transaction of $4,005,279.57. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares in the company, valued at $5,833,749.21. This trade represents a 40.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,807 shares of company stock valued at $8,352,941 in the last 90 days. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cabot

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cabot in the third quarter valued at about $654,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 2.9% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,917 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Cabot in the third quarter valued at about $1,651,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cabot in the third quarter valued at about $3,161,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 120.1% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 21,817 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,408,000 after acquiring an additional 11,905 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on CBT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Cabot Stock Up 2.6 %

CBT traded up $2.84 during trading on Monday, reaching $112.46. 437,881 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 345,322. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $111.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.98. Cabot has a twelve month low of $70.63 and a twelve month high of $117.46. The stock has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.20.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.01). Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. The company had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Cabot will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.52%.

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.