Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $95.00 to $105.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Cabot traded as high as $103.57 and last traded at $101.07, with a volume of 79804 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $101.20.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on CBT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com lowered Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.80.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In other news, SVP Karen A. Kalita sold 13,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.73, for a total value of $1,400,211.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 34,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,490,559.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at about $894,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,919,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,248,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Cabot by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,271 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,727,000 after purchasing an additional 11,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its position in Cabot by 41.1% during the 1st quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 163,617 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $15,085,000 after purchasing an additional 47,682 shares during the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cabot Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.47. The firm has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 11.51%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. Cabot’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.77%.

Cabot Company 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.