Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $5.06 Million in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 55,380 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,057,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Cabot by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 22,617 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,065,000 after buying an additional 3,588 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Cabot by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 6,933 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cabot by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,759 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after acquiring an additional 8,995 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cabot by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 710,608 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $64,886,000 after purchasing an additional 3,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter worth about $271,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Down 0.1 %

Cabot stock opened at $84.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. 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 50 day moving average of $86.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.51. Cabot Co. has a twelve month low of $79.57 and a twelve month high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Cabot declared that its board has initiated a stock 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 reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cabot has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.00.

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.