Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Short Interest Down 15.3% in March

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,940,000 shares, a decline of 15.3% from the February 28th total of 3,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 441,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.7 days. Approximately 5.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.00.

Cabot Price Performance

CBT stock traded down $3.39 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $80.96. 188,954 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 377,128. Cabot has a 52 week low of $78.61 and a 52 week high of $117.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $85.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $97.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.79% and a net margin of 10.60%. As a group, analysts expect that Cabot will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued 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 2.12%. Cabot’s payout ratio is 22.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Cabot by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 808 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Cabot by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. 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 purchasing an additional 1,584 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Cabot by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,046 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.