Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Shares Sold by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,946 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,055 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $4,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBT. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cabot by 197.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Cabot by 20,489.3% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 5,737 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in Cabot by 5.5% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 19,029 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,127,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Cabot by 11.5% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,965 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the third quarter worth about $701,000. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CBT. Mizuho decreased their price objective 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.00.

Cabot Stock Up 2.3 %

CBT opened at $83.47 on Friday. Cabot Co. has a twelve month low of $79.57 and a twelve month high of $117.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $86.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.63. The company has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.84%.

Cabot declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cabot Company Profile

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.