Short Interest in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Rises By 19.7%

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,740,000 shares, a growth of 19.7% from the January 31st total of 2,290,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 409,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Cabot Stock Performance

NYSE CBT opened at $84.84 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Cabot has a 12-month low of $79.57 and a 12-month high of $117.46. The firm has a market cap 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cabot will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

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

Cabot announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Cabot

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 22.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 0.3% during the third quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,116 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,943,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Isthmus Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CBT has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One 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 MarketBeat.com, Cabot currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

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.