Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Reaches New 52-Week High at $95.24

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $95.24 and last traded at $95.04, with a volume of 5091 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $94.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on Cabot in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group cut Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.67.

Cabot Trading Down 1.7 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $85.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.28.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $958.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.28 million. Cabot had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 11.24%. Analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $4,413,669.03. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 97,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,767,331.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in Cabot by 17.5% in the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 1.4% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 10,851 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in Cabot in the fourth quarter valued at about $557,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Cabot by 267.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 11,380 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $950,000 after acquiring an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cabot in the fourth quarter worth about $258,000. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

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.