Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Shares Sold by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 28.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,825 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 8,187 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Cabot were worth $1,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CBT. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Cabot by 22.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cabot by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 808 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Cabot by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cabot by 1,685.1% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cabot Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of CBT stock opened at $84.05 on Tuesday. Cabot Co. has a 1 year low of $79.57 and a 1 year high of $117.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.29. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.84%.

Cabot announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CBT shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

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.