Millennium Management LLC Acquires 141,050 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 67.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 349,369 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 141,050 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.64% of Cabot worth $31,901,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,961,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 761,372 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $69,521,000 after purchasing an additional 135,119 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 451,513 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $41,228,000 after purchasing an additional 96,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 794,477 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $72,544,000 after purchasing an additional 87,881 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Cabot Stock Performance

CBT traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $74.07. 450,376 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 408,635. The firm has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.91. The stock's fifty day moving average is $78.45 and its 200 day moving average is $88.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. Cabot Co. has a one year low of $71.64 and a one year high of $117.46.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $936.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given 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 currently 23.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.