Peregrine Capital Management LLC Has $5.36 Million Stock Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 58,748 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,144 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cabot were worth $5,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Cabot by 103.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,699,000 after buying an additional 57,907 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot in the third quarter worth about $654,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cabot by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 40,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,688,000 after buying an additional 6,950 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot in the third quarter worth about $609,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Cabot by 165.5% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 5,543 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $506,000 after buying an additional 3,455 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Price Performance

NYSE CBT opened at $88.30 on Thursday. Cabot Co. has a twelve month low of $80.21 and a twelve month high of $117.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 11.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.16.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.84%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on CBT shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.00.

Cabot Profile

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.