Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Given New $110.00 Price Target at Mizuho

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) had its price objective trimmed by Mizuho from $122.00 to $110.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cabot presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.00.

Cabot Price Performance

NYSE:CBT opened at $88.74 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Cabot has a 52 week low of $70.63 and a 52 week high of $117.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $103.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cabot will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Cabot’s payout ratio is 25.52%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total transaction of $1,649,599.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. This trade represents a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total value of $4,005,279.57. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,833,749.21. The trade was a 40.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock worth $5,751,534. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cabot

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 103.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,699,000 after purchasing an additional 57,907 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the third quarter worth approximately $654,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 3rd quarter worth $609,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cabot by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,240 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,881,000 after buying an additional 8,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 80,096 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.