First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Acquires 446 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,872 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Cabot were worth $536,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Paradiem LLC grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 132,275 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,078,000 after acquiring an additional 19,903 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 165.5% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,543 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,455 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,113 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 40,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,688,000 after acquiring an additional 6,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,198 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cabot

In other Cabot news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,833,749.21. This trade represents a 40.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534 in the last quarter. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cabot Price Performance

NYSE:CBT opened at $88.06 on Tuesday. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $70.63 and a 1-year high of $117.46. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 earnings per share. Cabot’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is 25.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CBT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.