ProShare Advisors LLC Grows Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 36.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,319 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Cabot were worth $1,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Cabot by 103.9% in 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. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in Cabot by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 4,113 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Paradiem LLC raised its position in shares of Cabot by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Paradiem LLC now owns 132,275 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $12,078,000 after acquiring an additional 19,903 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,872 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Cabot by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,120 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cabot Price Performance

Shares of Cabot stock traded up $1.57 on Tuesday, hitting $75.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 51,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 407,270. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00. Cabot Co. has a 1 year low of $71.64 and a 1 year high of $117.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $78.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.24. The company has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Cabot Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Cabot's payout ratio is currently 23.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.