AQR Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 11.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 211,644 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,566 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $19,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CBT. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 416 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cabot by 33.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 475 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the second quarter worth approximately $49,000. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Cabot in the second quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Cabot in the second quarter worth approximately $64,000. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CBT shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cabot from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sean D. Keohane sold 25,617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total value of $2,601,406.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,630,719.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Cabot news, CFO Erica Mclaughlin sold 23,274 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.79, for a total transaction of $2,322,512.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 59,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,968,839.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sean D. Keohane sold 25,617 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total transaction of $2,601,406.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 331,174 shares in the company, valued at $33,630,719.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 71,939 shares of company stock valued at $7,308,812 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Up 0.8 %

CBT stock opened at $111.77 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.15, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Cabot Co. has a twelve month low of $65.10 and a twelve month high of $113.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $101.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.65.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. Cabot had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 26.99%. Cabot’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.77%.

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.