New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 762 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 258,616 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 762 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Cabot were worth $23,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CBT. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 197.9% in 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. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 35.6% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 564 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 22.0% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cabot in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on CBT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Mizuho dropped their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.00.

Cabot Stock Down 1.1 %

CBT stock opened at $84.56 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.19. Cabot Co. has a twelve month low of $81.24 and a twelve month high of $117.46. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

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

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, December 3rd that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the specialty chemicals company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Cabot’s payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

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.