Inspire Investing LLC Reduces Stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Inspire Investing LLC cut its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 61.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 7,068 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Paradiem LLC raised its holdings in Cabot by 17.7% during the 4th quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 132,275 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,078,000 after buying an additional 19,903 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in Cabot by 165.5% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,543 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,455 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Cabot by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,113 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 40,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,688,000 after acquiring an additional 6,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cabot by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,198 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cabot

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total value of $1,649,599.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 69,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. This trade represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total value of $4,005,279.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,833,749.21. The trade was a 40.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.00.

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CBT opened at $88.26 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.08. Cabot Co. has a one year low of $70.63 and a one year high of $117.46. The firm has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.01). Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.65 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.68 EPS for the current year.

Cabot announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s payout ratio is 25.52%.

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.