Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Stake Lifted by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 6.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,358 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 389 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $711,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Cabot in the 3rd quarter valued at about $609,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 188.1% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 7,122 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $796,000 after buying an additional 4,650 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 15.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 45,023 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,032,000 after buying an additional 5,898 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP bought a new position in Cabot in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $247,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Cabot in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CBT opened at $92.39 on Friday. Cabot Co. has a 1 year low of $70.63 and a 1 year high of $117.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $108.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.01). Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The business had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Cabot’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is 25.52%.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CBT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cabot news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total transaction of $4,005,279.57. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,833,749.21. The trade was a 40.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total value of $1,649,599.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. This trade represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534. 3.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.