Boston Trust Walden Corp Decreases Stake in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden Corp reduced its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 12.7% in the first quarter, selling 76,486 shares and leaving it with 525,817 shares valued at about $26.2 million.
• Cathay General Bancorp reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $1.29 per share versus the $1.19 estimate, with revenue also edging above forecasts and up 14.4% from a year earlier.
• The bank authorized a stock repurchase plan and continued its dividend policy, paying a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, which annualizes to $1.52 and a yield of about 2.4%.

Boston Trust Walden Corp cut its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 525,817 shares of the bank's stock after selling 76,486 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned approximately 0.79% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $26,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CATY. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 39.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 150,601 shares of the bank's stock valued at $7,230,000 after purchasing an additional 42,868 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank's stock worth $23,430,000 after purchasing an additional 484,149 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,505,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,550,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $41,140,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $62.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $43.65 and a one year high of $63.72. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $58.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 31.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on CATY shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Profile

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol CATY. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides a full suite of financial services to commercial, institutional and retail clients. As a community-focused institution, the company emphasizes relationship banking and tailored solutions for businesses and individuals.

Founded in 1962 by a group of Chinese American entrepreneurs, Cathay has expanded from a single branch operation in downtown Los Angeles into one of the largest Asian-American banks in the United States.

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