Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Position Trimmed by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its holdings in shares of Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,932 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.06% of Cabot worth $2,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Cabot during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cabot in the third quarter worth $79,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Cabot in the third quarter valued at $162,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cabot by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 632 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 97,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,767,331.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CBT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $87.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on Cabot in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.17.

Cabot Price Performance

NYSE CBT opened at $93.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Cabot Co. has a 12 month low of $63.73 and a 12 month high of $98.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.85.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $958.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $927.28 million. Cabot had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 11.24%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cabot Co. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.