Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Stock Holdings Trimmed by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,592 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,618 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.12% of Cabot worth $7,108,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cabot by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 43,712 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,886,000 after acquiring an additional 14,750 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 32.2% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,761 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Cabot by 221.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 59,707 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,673,000 after purchasing an additional 41,121 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 2.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,433 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $79,070,000 after acquiring an additional 19,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 251.7% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 10,271 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 7,351 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CBT opened at $107.61 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.18. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $70.63 and a 1-year high of $117.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $111.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.12.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

Cabot declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CBT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 9,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,571.08. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,865,099.25. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cabot 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.