Earnest Partners LLC Purchases 80,096 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,363,398 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 80,096 shares during the quarter. Cabot comprises about 1.4% of Earnest Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Earnest Partners LLC owned about 0.06% of Cabot worth $309,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Cabot by 0.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,348,972 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,965,000 after buying an additional 4,437 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 976,709 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,750,000 after acquiring an additional 66,171 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Cabot by 5.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 913,259 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $83,919,000 after acquiring an additional 51,178 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Cabot by 1.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 693,580 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,733,000 after purchasing an additional 11,986 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Cabot by 22.9% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 521,486 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,081,000 after purchasing an additional 97,101 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CBT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Cabot from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.75.

Cabot Stock Performance

NYSE CBT opened at $108.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $100.78 and a 200 day moving average of $97.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Cabot Co. has a twelve month low of $65.10 and a twelve month high of $111.77.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.99% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. Cabot’s payout ratio is 21.77%.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In related news, CEO Sean D. Keohane sold 25,617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total value of $2,601,406.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,630,719.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cabot news, CEO Sean D. Keohane sold 25,617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total transaction of $2,601,406.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,630,719.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Erica Mclaughlin sold 16,390 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.24, for a total value of $1,708,493.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,814 shares in the company, valued at $6,235,011.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 71,939 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,812 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

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.