BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $4.73 Million Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 28.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 51,271 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 11,471 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Cabot were worth $4,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,471,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Cabot by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 812,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $67,854,000 after purchasing an additional 205,582 shares in the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cabot in the 4th quarter valued at $6,919,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Cabot by 176.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 124,422 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $10,389,000 after buying an additional 79,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cabot during the 4th quarter worth about $6,248,000. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

CBT opened at $93.74 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Cabot Co. has a 12-month low of $64.51 and a 12-month high of $103.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $97.44 and a 200-day moving average of $89.09. The stock has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.20.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.12. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 11.51%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. This is a positive change from Cabot’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is 21.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Karen A. Kalita sold 13,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.73, for a total value of $1,400,211.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 34,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,490,559.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CBT. StockNews.com downgraded Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cabot from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cabot currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.80.

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.