UBS Group Boosts Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Price Target to $103.00

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) had its target price lifted by UBS Group from $100.00 to $103.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Cabot from a buy rating to a hold rating and increased their price objective for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cabot from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Cabot from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $93.67.

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of Cabot stock opened at $100.99 on Tuesday. Cabot has a 1-year low of $63.73 and a 1-year high of $103.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.27.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.12. Cabot had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 25.52%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cabot will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. This is a positive change from Cabot’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is 20.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cabot

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total value of $4,413,669.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 97,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,767,331.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cabot

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cabot in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,248,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Cabot by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,908,495 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $340,011,000 after purchasing an additional 20,589 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Cabot in the fourth quarter worth $1,294,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cabot by 34.1% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cabot by 603.7% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 23,460 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after buying an additional 20,126 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.