Barclays PLC Grows Stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 103.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,907 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $12,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Cabot by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,426 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $606,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cabot by 22.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 33.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 475 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Cabot by 53.9% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY grew its position in Cabot by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 3,162 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CBT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cabot currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cabot news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:CBT opened at $103.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.36. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $110.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.33. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $70.63 and a 1-year high of $117.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued 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 company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. 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 authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.