Short Interest in Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) Rises By 6.9%

Cabot Co. (NYSE:CBT) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,700,000 shares, an increase of 6.9% from the March 31st total of 1,590,000 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 316,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Jeff Ji Zhu sold 55,233 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 97,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,767,331.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cabot

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 125.4% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 10,911 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 6,070 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Cabot by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 51,271 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,727,000 after purchasing an additional 11,471 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot in the 1st quarter worth approximately $432,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in shares of Cabot by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 69,606 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,418,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Finally, SpiderRock Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cabot during the first quarter valued at approximately $220,000. 93.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cabot Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE CBT traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $92.75. 25,428 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 298,694. The stock has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.27. Cabot has a 52 week low of $63.73 and a 52 week high of $98.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $90.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $927.28 million. Cabot had a return on equity of 25.52% and a net margin of 11.24%. Analysts forecast that Cabot will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CBT. Mizuho initiated coverage on Cabot in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Cabot from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Cabot from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $90.00 to $87.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.17.

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.