Xponance Inc. Purchases 465 Shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT)

Xponance Inc. boosted its position in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,831 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Cabot were worth $715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cabot by 37.4% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,103 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $794,000 after purchasing an additional 1,934 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Cabot by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cabot by 251.7% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 10,271 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,148,000 after acquiring an additional 7,351 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 2.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 707,433 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $79,070,000 after acquiring an additional 19,215 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Cabot by 221.2% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 59,707 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,673,000 after purchasing an additional 41,121 shares in the last quarter. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cabot Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of CBT opened at $84.06 on Tuesday. Cabot Co. has a 1-year low of $79.57 and a 1-year high of $117.46. The company has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $98.62.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.02. Cabot had a net margin of 10.60% and a return on equity of 26.79%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cabot announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, December 3rd that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the specialty chemicals company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. 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 2.05%. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is 22.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho cut their target price on Cabot from $122.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cabot from $105.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cabot has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.00.

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.