Polaris Capital Management LLC Has $1.67 Million Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Polaris Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 17.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,273 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 3,800 shares during the period. Polaris Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $1,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CBT. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Cabot in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Cabot by 53.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 35.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CBT. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.00.

Cabot Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CBT opened at $86.39 on Tuesday. Cabot Co. has a 12 month low of $78.61 and a 12 month high of $117.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50-day moving average of $92.96 and a 200-day moving average of $101.70.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given 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 1.99%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Cabot announced that its board has approved 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 buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cabot

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total transaction of $1,649,599.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. The trade was a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at $1,088,571.08. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.