Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Shares Sold by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 58,249 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,121 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.11% of Cabot worth $6,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CBT. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in Cabot by 2.4% in the second 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,348,972 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,965,000 after buying an additional 4,437 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cabot by 7.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 976,709 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,750,000 after buying an additional 66,171 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Cabot by 5.9% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 913,259 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $83,919,000 after acquiring an additional 51,178 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Cabot by 2.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,433 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $79,070,000 after acquiring an additional 19,215 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cabot Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CBT opened at $109.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.26, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.20. Cabot Co. has a 52-week low of $70.63 and a 52-week high of $117.46. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.91.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.65 earnings per share. Cabot’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cabot

In other news, CEO Sean D. Keohane sold 25,617 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.55, for a total value of $2,601,406.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,630,719.70. The trade was a 7.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total transaction of $4,005,279.57. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 50,627 shares in the company, valued at $5,833,749.21. This represents a 40.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 75,807 shares of company stock worth $8,352,941 in the last quarter. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, November 11th. 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.com, Cabot has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Cabot 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.