Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 391 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,120 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 391 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Cabot were worth $468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Cabot by 53.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 197.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Cabot by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cabot by 22.0% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE CBT opened at $86.39 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 12.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $95.85 and its 200-day moving average is $102.09. Cabot Co. has a 1 year low of $70.63 and a 1 year high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. Cabot’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

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

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.52%.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In other Cabot news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total value of $4,005,279.57. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,833,749.21. This represents a 40.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total transaction of $1,649,599.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. This trade represents a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,190 shares of company stock worth $5,751,534. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CBT shares. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cabot has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.00.

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.