Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC Has $5.39 Million Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 379.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,033 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after buying an additional 46,718 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned 0.11% of Cabot worth $5,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Cabot by 103.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $12,699,000 after purchasing an additional 57,907 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the third quarter worth approximately $654,000. Delta Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter worth approximately $274,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Cabot by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 451,513 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $41,228,000 after purchasing an additional 96,179 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,269,000. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cabot Price Performance

Cabot stock traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $73.93. 381,847 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 402,680. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.01. Cabot Co. has a 12 month low of $71.64 and a 12 month high of $117.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a PE ratio of 9.82, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.91.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.04. Cabot had a return on equity of 26.79% and a net margin of 10.60%. The firm had revenue of $936.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 EPS. The company's revenue was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This is a positive change from Cabot's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Cabot's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.