Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Strong-Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on CBT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Cabot from a buy rating to a hold rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cabot from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $93.67.

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of CBT stock traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $101.82. The stock had a trading volume of 264,814 shares, compared to its average volume of 309,293. Cabot has a 12-month low of $63.73 and a 12-month high of $103.46. The company has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. Cabot had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 11.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cabot will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Cabot’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. Cabot’s payout ratio is 20.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $4,413,669.03. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 97,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,767,331.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cabot

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CBT. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 143.1% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 81.8% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cabot by 372.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 505 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.