Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Has $2.14 Million Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,454 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 340 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $2,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Cabot by 103.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,699,000 after purchasing an additional 57,907 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot in the 3rd quarter valued at about $654,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Cabot in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,269,000. Delta Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter worth approximately $274,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Cabot by 20.8% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Cabot stock opened at $85.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.65. Cabot Co. has a 12-month low of $83.53 and a 12-month high of $117.46. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.19.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Cabot’s payout ratio is presently 22.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CBT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Mizuho lowered their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.00.

Cabot 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.