California Public Employees Retirement System Increases Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 96,712 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 2,206 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.17% of Cabot worth $8,075,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Arlington Trust Co LLC purchased a new position in Cabot during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cabot during the third quarter worth about $79,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Cabot during the third quarter worth about $162,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Cabot by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Cabot during the third quarter worth about $215,000. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cabot Stock Down 0.1 %

CBT stock opened at $94.10 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.27. Cabot Co. has a 12 month low of $63.73 and a 12 month high of $98.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $958.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.28 million. Cabot had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 25.52%. Equities analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Cabot in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cabot currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $4,413,669.03. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 97,201 shares in the company, valued at $7,767,331.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

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.