Versor Investments LP Buys 700 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Versor Investments LP raised its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 29.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Cabot during the third quarter valued at about $19,643,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 135,119 shares during the last quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. purchased a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,228,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Cabot by 103.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,699,000 after acquiring an additional 57,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 355,334 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $39,716,000 after acquiring an additional 41,554 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cabot Stock Performance

NYSE:CBT opened at $81.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $88.21 and its 200 day moving average is $100.60. Cabot Co. has a fifty-two week low of $81.30 and a fifty-two week 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.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.