Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Plans $0.40 Quarterly Dividend

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 10th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 24th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Friday, December 8th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 22nd.

Cabot has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Cabot has a payout ratio of 24.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cabot to earn $7.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.2%.

Cabot Price Performance

CBT stock opened at $78.33 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.73. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 10.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Cabot has a 1 year low of $63.73 and a 1 year high of $83.74.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 6th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.18. Cabot had a return on equity of 24.65% and a net margin of 11.32%. The firm had revenue of $965.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $991.48 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Cabot will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cabot from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 11th. Credit Suisse Group cut their price objective on shares of Cabot from $85.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Cabot from $86.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in Cabot by 176.0% in the first quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cabot in the first quarter valued at approximately $87,000. State of Wyoming boosted its position in Cabot by 91.2% in the second quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,199 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 1,049 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in Cabot by 8.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 3,329 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Cabot in the first quarter valued at approximately $218,000. 91.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.