Short Interest in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Decreases By 5.8%

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,420,000 shares, a decrease of 5.8% from the October 31st total of 2,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 369,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.6 days. Approximately 4.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on CBT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Cabot from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Cabot from $103.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Cabot from $103.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cabot presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Lisa M. Dumont sold 865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.74, for a total transaction of $96,655.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,088,571.08. This represents a 8.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Hobart Kalkstein sold 34,759 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.23, for a total transaction of $4,005,279.57. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,833,749.21. This represents a 40.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,807 shares of company stock valued at $8,352,941 over the last quarter. 3.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cabot in the third quarter valued at approximately $654,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Cabot by 2.9% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 11,917 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Cabot in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,651,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cabot in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,161,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cabot by 120.1% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 21,817 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,408,000 after acquiring an additional 11,905 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Cabot Price Performance

NYSE CBT traded up $2.84 during trading on Monday, hitting $112.46. 437,881 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 345,322. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of 16.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.20. Cabot has a fifty-two week low of $70.63 and a fifty-two week high of $117.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $111.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.98.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.81 by ($0.01). Cabot had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 26.60%. The firm had revenue of $1 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Cabot will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.52%.

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.