Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on CBT. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Cabot from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.25.

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of CBT opened at $79.60 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.57, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.04. Cabot has a 1 year low of $73.63 and a 1 year high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cabot will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Cabot

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CBT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,961,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Cabot by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 349,369 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,901,000 after acquiring an additional 141,050 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cabot by 10,385.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 141,338 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $11,751,000 after acquiring an additional 139,990 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $69,521,000 after purchasing an additional 135,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cabot by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,323,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $120,835,000 after purchasing an additional 103,380 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently 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.