Versor Investments LP Raises Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Versor Investments LP lifted its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 29.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,100 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Cabot were worth $283,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cabot by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,283,686 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $143,504,000 after acquiring an additional 22,719 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,521,000 after purchasing an additional 135,119 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Cabot by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,433 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $79,070,000 after purchasing an additional 19,215 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Cabot by 13.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 355,334 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $39,716,000 after purchasing an additional 41,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Cabot by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 259,378 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,991,000 after purchasing an additional 36,036 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CBT shares. StockNews.com raised Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cabot currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.00.

Cabot Trading Down 5.0 %

NYSE:CBT opened at $81.67 on Tuesday. Cabot Co. has a one year low of $81.30 and a one year high of $117.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $88.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.84%.

Cabot announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 3rd that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.