Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Acquires Shares of 5,449 Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,449 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,363,398 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $309,063,000 after purchasing an additional 80,096 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,433 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $79,070,000 after purchasing an additional 19,215 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 1,295.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 26,899 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,472,000 after purchasing an additional 24,972 shares during the period. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 122,820 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,728,000 after purchasing an additional 20,273 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of CBT stock opened at $100.09 on Wednesday. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $70.63 and a 52 week high of $117.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $109.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.32.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. Cabot’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.52%.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to purchase 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CBT shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In related news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of Cabot 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 directly owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at $7,865,099.25. This trade represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total transaction of $4,005,279.57. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares in the company, valued at $5,833,749.21. This represents a 40.71 % 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. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

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.