Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Purchases 7,000 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 17.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,300 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ owned 0.09% of Cabot worth $4,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cabot by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,283,686 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $143,504,000 after acquiring an additional 22,719 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,521,000 after buying an additional 135,119 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 710,608 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $64,886,000 after buying an additional 3,175 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 13.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 355,334 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $39,716,000 after buying an additional 41,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 178,431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $16,293,000 after buying an additional 649 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

Cabot stock opened at $83.47 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $86.82 and a 200-day moving average of $99.43. The firm has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $79.57 and a 1-year high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share 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 EPS for the current year.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CBT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com cut Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.00.

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.