iSAM Funds UK Ltd Purchases Shares of 5,820 Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,820 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $531,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Cabot by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,323,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $120,835,000 after acquiring an additional 103,380 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Cabot by 6.0% during the 4th 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. lifted its position in Cabot by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 845,261 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $77,181,000 after acquiring an additional 55,905 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 87,881 shares during the period. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cabot by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $69,521,000 after acquiring an additional 135,119 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CBT. Wall Street Zen cut Cabot from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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.

Cabot Price Performance

Cabot stock traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 450,376 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,635. Cabot Co. has a fifty-two week low of $71.64 and a fifty-two 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. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $78.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 9.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.91.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.90 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 company had revenue of $936.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.78 earnings per share. Cabot's quarterly revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

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

Cabot Company 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.