Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Grows Position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,116,419 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,472 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.57% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $53,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CATY. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 332.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,087,000 after buying an additional 19,458 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,236 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,509,000 after acquiring an additional 7,837 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,615,000 after purchasing an additional 20,840 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 74,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 156,125 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,706,000 after purchasing an additional 9,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CATY shares. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY stock opened at $38.10 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a PE ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.99. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.88 and a twelve month high of $55.29. 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 (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.70%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.34%.

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.