Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 2,055 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,946 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,055 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of Cabot worth $4,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CBT. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Cabot in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cabot by 197.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised 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 buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cabot by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 808 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Cabot by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CBT shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.00.

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of CBT opened at $83.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a PE ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $79.57 and a 1-year high of $117.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $86.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.63.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.84%.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.