Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $110.60, but opened at $115.16. Cabot shares last traded at $110.65, with a volume of 31,443 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CBT shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.00.

Cabot Stock Down 2.0 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $103.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Cabot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.52%.

Cabot announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total transaction of $4,005,279.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,833,749.21. This represents a 40.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was 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 $1,088,571.08. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,190 shares of company stock worth $5,751,534 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CBT. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot in the third quarter valued at approximately $654,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Cabot by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,917 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Cabot during the third quarter worth $1,651,000. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the third quarter valued at $3,161,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 11,905 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.