Cabot (NYSE:CBT) Given New $109.00 Price Target at Mizuho

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) had its target price raised by Mizuho from $104.00 to $109.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cabot from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group lowered Cabot from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price target for the company from $90.00 to $87.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Cabot from a buy rating to a hold rating and raised their target price for the company from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $93.67.

Cabot Trading Up 5.3 %

CBT opened at $100.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.92. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $63.73 and a fifty-two week high of $103.46. The company has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.27.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.12. Cabot had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 11.24%. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. Cabot’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cabot will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. This is an increase from Cabot’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Cabot by 5.0% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 41,878 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Cabot by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,476 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,819 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Cabot by 17.5% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 175,336 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,146,000 after acquiring an additional 26,052 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new stake in Cabot in the third quarter valued at approximately $248,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Cabot by 1,416.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 51,814 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,589,000 after buying an additional 48,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

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.