Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 30,046 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,084,947 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 30,046 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $46,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $52.81 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.30 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $33.88 and a 1 year high of $54.07.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. The business had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 7,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.05, for a total transaction of $342,947.45. Following the sale, the insider now owns 347,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,371,659.15. This trade represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,500,047. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.00.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.