Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Stock Position Increased by Two Sigma Investments LP

Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 94.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,163 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 39,830 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP owned approximately 0.15% of Cabot worth $7,502,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Cabot by 103.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $12,699,000 after acquiring an additional 57,907 shares during the period. Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at $274,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cabot by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 451,513 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $41,228,000 after buying an additional 96,179 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cabot in the 4th quarter worth $1,269,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Cabot by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 42,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,848,000 after acquiring an additional 10,593 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on Cabot from $93.00 to $83.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cabot from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Cabot Trading Down 2.4%

CBT stock traded down $1.84 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $74.38. 395,232 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 408,463. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.88, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Cabot Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.64 and a fifty-two week high of $117.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $78.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.16.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $936.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Cabot's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.29%.

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.