Foster & Motley Inc. Has $1.28 Million Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Foster & Motley Inc. lessened its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,991 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 324 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Cabot were worth $1,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 53.9% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 197.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 35.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

NYSE CBT opened at $87.33 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’s fifty day moving average price is $96.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.16. 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 $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.68 EPS for the current year.

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

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s payout ratio is presently 25.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total value of $96,655.10. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at $7,865,099.25. The trade was a 17.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534 over the last ninety days. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.