Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Trims Stock Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,114,993 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 189,587 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.53% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $42,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth $40,000. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 22,160.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,452 shares of the bank’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 4,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 12,039.0% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,977 shares of the bank’s stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 4,936 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on CATY. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wedbush raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY opened at $44.16 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $32.08 and a 12 month high of $45.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.78. The company has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.77 and a beta of 1.11.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $178.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.19 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total value of $903,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total value of $903,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 355,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,053,837.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $555,440.79. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 149,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,401 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,581. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.