Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Boosts Stock Holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 260.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 10,400 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Cabot were worth $1,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CBT. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of Cabot in the third quarter worth $25,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Cabot in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Cabot by 53.9% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 197.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 35.6% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.00.

Cabot Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:CBT opened at $87.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.08. Cabot Co. has a 52-week low of $75.99 and a 52-week high of $117.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $93.95 and a 200 day moving average of $101.79.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.60% and a net margin of 9.51%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.52%.

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

Insider Activity at Cabot

In other Cabot news, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of Cabot stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total value of $4,005,279.57. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,833,749.21. The trade was a 40.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 14,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,190 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,534. Insiders own 3.03% 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.