Boston Trust Walden Corp Sells 38,113 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden Corp sold 38,113 shares of Cathay General Bancorp (a 6.0% reduction), leaving it with 602,303 shares (0.89% of the company) valued at about $29.15 million.
• Cathay beat expectations with $1.29 EPS vs. $1.19 consensus and $213.2M revenue (up 14.4% YoY), and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 (annualized $1.52, ~2.8% yield).
• Insiders sold shares: EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares and CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares (the CEO’s sale executed under a Rule 10b5-1 plan); insiders own 4.85% of the stock while institutions own about 75.01%.

Boston Trust Walden Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 602,303 shares of the bank's stock after selling 38,113 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp owned 0.89% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $29,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank's stock valued at $20,189,000 after acquiring an additional 331,997 shares during the period. HRT Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $3,987,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $3,910,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 674.4% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 93,282 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,478,000 after acquiring an additional 81,236 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.0% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 386,291 shares of the bank's stock valued at $18,546,000 after acquiring an additional 77,228 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $52.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total value of $50,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $100,460. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $243,492.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares in the company, valued at $6,435,686.65. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 4.85% of the company's stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of CATY opened at $53.78 on Thursday. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $40.96 and a twelve month high of $55.09. The company has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $50.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.72.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.27 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm's revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. This is a boost from Cathay General Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is 33.48%.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CATY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.