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

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) hit a new 52-week high 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. The stock had previously closed at $101.20.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on CBT. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of 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 report 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. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cabot presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 34,312 shares in the company, valued at $3,490,559.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cabot

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CBT. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Cabot by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 42,103 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,516,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 83,596 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,980,000 after acquiring an additional 4,104 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 69,819 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,830,000 after acquiring an additional 18,005 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $461,000. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Down 4.8 %

The business has a fifty 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 price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.21% and a net margin of 11.51%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.77%.

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.