Baldwin Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Baldwin Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 32.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,455 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 4,100 shares during the quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC's holdings in Cabot were worth $772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Cabot by 8.5% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 942,273 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $86,039,000 after acquiring an additional 53,090 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Cabot by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 845,261 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $77,181,000 after purchasing an additional 55,905 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Cabot by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 794,477 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $72,544,000 after purchasing an additional 87,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CBT shares. StockNews.com lowered Cabot from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Cabot from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th.

Cabot Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of CBT traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $74.26. The company had a trading volume of 189,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 400,779. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.53. Cabot Co. has a 52-week low of $71.64 and a 52-week high of $117.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $936.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.79% and a net margin of 10.60%. The company's revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.78 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Cabot's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Cabot's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.84%.

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.