American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 103,380 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,323,347 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 103,380 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Cabot were worth $120,835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cabot by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,348 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its stake in Cabot by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cabot by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in Cabot by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 50,221 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,614,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CBT has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cabot presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.00.

Cabot Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CBT opened at $82.17 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $86.38 and its 200 day moving average is $98.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Cabot Co. has a 1 year low of $79.57 and a 1 year high of $117.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. On average, research analysts predict that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.84%.

Cabot announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.