Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Short Interest Up 26.6% in February

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,470,000 shares, an increase of 26.6% from the February 13th total of 2,740,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 425,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.2 days. Approximately 6.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Cabot Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Cabot stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $84.41. 415,129 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 347,265. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $86.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. Cabot has a 12-month low of $79.57 and a 12-month high of $117.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share 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, analysts forecast that Cabot will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Cabot’s payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Cabot announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the specialty chemicals company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Cabot

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Cabot by 103.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,699,000 after acquiring an additional 57,907 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Cabot during the third quarter worth about $654,000. Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Cabot in the fourth quarter valued at about $274,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,269,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cabot by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 40,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,688,000 after acquiring an additional 6,950 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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