Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Downgraded by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft to Hold

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $95.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company's stock, up from their prior price objective of $88.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cabot from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Cabot in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a buy rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Cabot from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $90.17.

Cabot Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Cabot stock traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $90.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 372,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 309,896. Cabot has a one year low of $63.73 and a one year high of $98.34. The company has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.28. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $88.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.07. Cabot had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 25.52%. The company had revenue of $958.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $927.28 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Cabot will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cabot news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.91, for a total transaction of $4,413,669.03. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 97,201 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,767,331.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cabot

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Cabot by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 33,134 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cabot by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 8,740 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cabot by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 4,176 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new position in Cabot in the 1st quarter worth about $712,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Cabot in the 1st quarter worth about $282,000. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.