Handelsbanken Fonder AB Purchases 2,000 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,909 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Cabot were worth $996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,283,686 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $143,504,000 after buying an additional 22,719 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,521,000 after acquiring an additional 135,119 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Cabot by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,433 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $79,070,000 after purchasing an additional 19,215 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Cabot by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 355,334 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $39,716,000 after purchasing an additional 41,554 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Cabot by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 259,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,991,000 after purchasing an additional 36,036 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. 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 assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

Cabot Stock Performance

Cabot stock opened at $85.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 11.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.19. Cabot Co. has a twelve month low of $82.31 and a twelve month high of $117.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $88.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, equities research analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 3rd that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Cabot’s payout ratio is presently 22.84%.

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.