William Blair Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 185,077 Cabot Corporation $CBT

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cabot Corporation (NYSE:CBT) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 185,077 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,809,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CBT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cabot during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $633,302,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Cabot by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,343,322 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $155,315,000 after acquiring an additional 124,613 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Cabot by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,025,589 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $134,256,000 after acquiring an additional 20,021 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Cabot by 4.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,742,782 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $131,253,000 after purchasing an additional 79,499 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Cabot by 3.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,683,520 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $128,032,000 after purchasing an additional 63,080 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cabot

In other Cabot news, CEO Sean D. Keohane sold 91,923 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.41, for a total transaction of $7,943,066.43. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 404,134 shares in the company, valued at $34,921,218.94. This represents a 18.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cabot Price Performance

CBT opened at $85.10 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $88.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.87. Cabot Corporation has a 12-month low of $58.33 and a 12-month high of $94.53. The firm has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Cabot (NYSE:CBT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.01. Cabot had a net margin of 5.23% and a return on equity of 20.29%. The company had revenue of $982.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $943.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Cabot has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.150-6.450 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cabot Corporation will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Cabot Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 11th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.4725 per share. This represents a $1.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. Cabot’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on Cabot from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cabot from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 9th. Truist Financial set a $100.00 target price on shares of Cabot in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cabot in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cabot from $70.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

About Cabot

Cabot Corporation is a global specialty chemicals and performance materials company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1882 by Godfrey Lowell Cabot, the company has grown into a diversified manufacturer with operations across North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Cabot serves a wide range of end markets, including automotive, industrial, energy, and consumer products, supplying essential ingredients that enhance performance, durability and functionality.

The company operates two primary segments: Reinforcement Materials and Performance Materials.