Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Coverage Initiated at Mizuho

Mizuho started coverage on shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $104.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CBT. StockNews.com cut shares of Cabot from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group cut shares of Cabot from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $87.67.

Cabot Price Performance

NYSE:CBT opened at $92.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.97, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.27. Cabot has a one year low of $63.73 and a one year high of $92.50. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $82.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.06. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.07. Cabot had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 25.52%. The company had revenue of $958.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $927.28 million. Analysts anticipate that Cabot will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Cabot’s payout ratio is 20.78%.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 97,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,767,331.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cabot

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBT. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cabot by 143.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Cabot by 176.0% in the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Cabot by 81.8% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Cabot by 372.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 505 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

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.