Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Downgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Cabot from a buy rating to a hold rating and lifted their target price for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Cabot from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $91.80.

Cabot Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE CBT opened at $93.28 on Monday. Cabot has a 1-year low of $64.15 and a 1-year high of $103.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $98.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.26.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Cabot had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cabot will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. This is a positive change from Cabot’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Cabot’s payout ratio is currently 21.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cabot news, SVP Karen A. Kalita sold 13,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.73, for a total transaction of $1,400,211.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 34,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,559.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cabot

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBT. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 5.5% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 8,180 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Cabot by 13.4% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 29,900 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,071,000 after acquiring an additional 3,535 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cabot by 34.1% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Cabot in the third quarter worth $353,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cabot by 92.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 288,216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $19,965,000 after acquiring an additional 138,663 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% 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.