UBS Group Cuts Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Price Target to $98.00

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) had its target price decreased by UBS Group from $103.00 to $98.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com cut Cabot from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Cabot from a buy rating to a hold rating and upped their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $101.75.

Cabot Stock Performance

NYSE:CBT traded down $1.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $96.15. 403,562 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 334,412. Cabot has a twelve month low of $65.10 and a twelve month high of $103.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $95.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.20.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Cabot had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 26.21%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. Cabot’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Cabot will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.77%.

Insider Activity at Cabot

In other Cabot news, CFO Erica Mclaughlin sold 23,274 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.79, for a total value of $2,322,512.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 59,814 shares in the company, valued at $5,968,839.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter valued at $894,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cabot during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,919,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the fourth quarter worth about $6,248,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Cabot by 28.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,271 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,727,000 after acquiring an additional 11,471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Investments LLC MA increased its position in shares of Cabot by 41.1% in the first quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 163,617 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $15,085,000 after acquiring an additional 47,682 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cabot Company 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.