7,261 Shares in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Bought by Nomura Holdings Inc.

Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,261 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $663,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CBT. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cabot by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 808 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cabot by 1,685.1% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Cabot by 43.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,046 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $187,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter worth about $205,000. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CBT traded up $0.02 on Monday, 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 52-week low of $71.64 and a 52-week high of $117.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.84, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.91. The stock's 50-day moving average is $78.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.53. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.78 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

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

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.