Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services trimmed its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 6% in Q4, selling 61,141 shares and holding 961,174 shares (~1.41% of the company) valued at about $46.5 million.
• Insider sales included CEO Chang Liu selling 4,836 shares at an average $50.35 under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan and EVP Thomas M. Lo selling 1,000 shares, with corporate insiders now owning roughly 4.76% of the stock.
• Operational update: Cathay beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $1.33 (vs. $1.20 expected) and $222.8M revenue, raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 (annualized $1.52, ~2.8% yield), and trades at a ~11.9 P/E with a market cap near $3.6B.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 961,174 shares of the bank's stock after selling 61,141 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 1.41% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $46,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 101.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the bank's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 979 shares of the bank's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $243,492.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $50,230.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,460. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company's stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $53.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.82. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $50.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $36.66 and a 1 year high of $54.99.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $222.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.76 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

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

Cathay General Bancorp Company 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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