Ritholtz Wealth Management Raises Position in Cabot Corporation (NYSE:CBT)

Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Cabot Corporation (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) by 84.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,245 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,702 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Cabot were worth $852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cabot in the fourth quarter worth about $37,961,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cabot by 67.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 349,369 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $31,901,000 after acquiring an additional 141,050 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 10,385.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 141,338 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $11,751,000 after acquiring an additional 139,990 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 96,179 shares during the period. 93.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cabot Price Performance

CBT traded up $0.06 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $73.09. 338,855 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 410,245. The company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.45, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.96. Cabot Corporation has a 12-month low of $71.64 and a 12-month high of $117.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.52.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 26.76%. The company had revenue of $936.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.78 EPS. Cabot's revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cabot Corporation will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. This is a positive change from Cabot's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Cabot's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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