Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Boosts Stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,205 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cabot by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,283,302 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $302,720,000 after purchasing an additional 19,276 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Cabot by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 862,081 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $79,484,000 after buying an additional 49,467 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Cabot by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 693,580 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,733,000 after buying an additional 11,986 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Cabot by 22.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 521,486 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,081,000 after buying an additional 97,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cabot in the 4th quarter worth $41,471,000. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cabot Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Cabot stock opened at $110.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $100.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 2.22 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 $111.64.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.99% and a net margin of 12.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Cabot’s payout ratio is 21.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CBT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cabot from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with 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 price target of $101.75.

Insider Activity at Cabot

In related news, CFO Erica Mclaughlin sold 23,274 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.79, for a total value of $2,322,512.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 59,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,968,839.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sean D. Keohane sold 25,617 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 331,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,630,719.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Erica Mclaughlin sold 23,274 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.79, for a total transaction of $2,322,512.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,968,839.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 71,939 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,812. 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.