Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 27.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 147,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 55,426 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.27% of Cabot worth $16,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in Cabot during the third quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Cabot by 53.9% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cabot by 197.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Cabot by 33.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 475 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Cabot by 35.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE CBT opened at $91.68 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $106.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18. Cabot Co. has a 12 month low of $70.63 and a 12 month high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot declared that its Board of Directors 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 repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Cabot’s payout ratio is presently 25.52%.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In other Cabot news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total transaction of $1,649,599.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at $7,865,099.25. This represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total transaction of $96,655.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock worth $5,751,534. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

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.