Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Short Interest Update

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) was the target of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,290,000 shares, an increase of 9.6% from the January 15th total of 2,090,000 shares. Currently, 4.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 404,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CBT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Mizuho reduced their price target on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One 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 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.00.

Cabot Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Cabot stock opened at $86.53 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $90.90 and its 200 day moving average is $101.26. The firm has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.49, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Cabot has a one year low of $80.21 and a one year high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 26.79% and a net margin of 10.60%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cabot will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.84%.

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

Institutional Trading of Cabot

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Cabot by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,323,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $120,835,000 after acquiring an additional 103,380 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Cabot by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 942,273 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $86,039,000 after buying an additional 53,090 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Cabot by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 845,261 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $77,181,000 after buying an additional 55,905 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Cabot by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 794,477 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $72,544,000 after purchasing an additional 87,881 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.