Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Lowers Stock Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its position in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,113 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 2,837 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned approximately 0.08% of Cabot worth $4,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eastern Bank raised its stake in shares of Cabot by 577.1% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 269,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $30,096,000 after purchasing an additional 229,500 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in Cabot in the third quarter worth about $19,643,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cabot by 30.4% in the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 626,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $69,996,000 after acquiring an additional 146,179 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew 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 acquiring an additional 108,197 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake 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 worth $309,063,000 after purchasing an additional 80,096 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Stock Down 0.7 %

CBT opened at $103.38 on Friday. Cabot Co. has a 12 month low of $70.63 and a 12 month high of $117.46. The company has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50 day moving average of $110.25 and a 200 day moving average of $103.29.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. Cabot’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Cabot’s payout ratio is 25.52%.

Insider Activity

In other Cabot news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was 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 $1,088,571.08. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.25, for a total value of $1,649,599.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 69,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,865,099.25. This trade represents a 17.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,190 shares of company stock worth $5,751,534. 3.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CBT. Mizuho increased their price objective on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.