Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Sets New 1-Year High Following Earnings Beat

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $102.98 and last traded at $100.88, with a volume of 69962 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $95.94.

The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.12. Cabot had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 25.52%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. This is a positive change from Cabot’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CBT has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cabot from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cabot

In related news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $4,413,669.03. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 97,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,767,331.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Cabot by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,361,129 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $440,635,000 after purchasing an additional 24,961 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 0.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,908,495 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $340,011,000 after buying an additional 20,589 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cabot by 2.1% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,167,091 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $219,384,000 after buying an additional 66,422 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Cabot by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,313,254 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $109,664,000 after buying an additional 32,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Cabot by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 862,081 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $79,484,000 after acquiring an additional 49,467 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Trading Up 5.3 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

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.