Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Takes Position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 71,231 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $6,504,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned 0.13% of Cabot as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in Cabot by 103.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 113,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $12,699,000 after buying an additional 57,907 shares in the last quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cabot in the 4th quarter worth about $274,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Cabot by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 451,513 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $41,228,000 after purchasing an additional 96,179 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Cabot during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,269,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Cabot by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 42,142 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,848,000 after purchasing an additional 10,593 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Cabot Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CBT traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $75.21. 266,598 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 410,503. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.80. 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 $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.87. 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 (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.04. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. The company had revenue of $936.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. This is a positive change from Cabot's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Cabot's payout ratio is presently 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.