Short Interest in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Drops By 5.8%

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,420,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the October 31st total of 2,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 369,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.6 days. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total transaction of $4,005,279.57. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,833,749.21. The trade was a 40.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total value of $96,655.10. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,742 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,088,571.08. The trade was a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534. Insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cabot

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBT. Eastern Bank increased its stake in Cabot by 577.1% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 269,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $30,096,000 after acquiring an additional 229,500 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $19,643,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 626,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,996,000 after purchasing an additional 146,179 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Cabot by 571.9% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 127,116 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $11,681,000 after purchasing an additional 108,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 3,363,398 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $309,063,000 after purchasing an additional 80,096 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Price Performance

NYSE CBT traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $111.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 343,883. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $111.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Cabot has a 1 year low of $70.63 and a 1 year high of $117.46. The company has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.69, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.18.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81 by ($0.01). Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.65 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cabot will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. Cabot’s payout ratio is 25.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.00.

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.