Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Shares Purchased by Paradiem LLC

Paradiem LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,275 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,903 shares during the period. Cabot comprises 3.2% of Paradiem LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Paradiem LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $12,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Eastern Bank grew its holdings in Cabot by 577.1% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 269,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $30,096,000 after purchasing an additional 229,500 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Cabot in the third quarter valued at $19,643,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cabot by 30.4% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 626,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,996,000 after acquiring an additional 146,179 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Cabot by 2.4% in the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,363,398 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $309,063,000 after acquiring an additional 80,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Cabot by 103.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,699,000 after acquiring an additional 57,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CBT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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 decreased 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.00.

Cabot Price Performance

NYSE CBT opened at $91.70 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21. Cabot Co. has a 52-week low of $70.63 and a 52-week high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. Cabot’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is 25.52%.

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

Insider Activity at Cabot

In related news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total value of $96,655.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. This trade represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total value of $1,649,599.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534 over the last ninety days. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.