On June 1, 2023, financial services company Aviva PLC announced that it had reduced its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp, a California-based bank listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. According to the company’s most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it sold 14,740 shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter of 2022, resulting in a 38.8% reduction of its holdings.
Aviva PLC now owns 23,240 shares of Cathay General Bancorp’s stock worth $1,009,000 as of the end of the most recent quarter. This decline in Aviva PLC’s ownership comes after a prolonged period where they were accumulating significant stakes in various financial institutions through targeted acquisitions and investments.
In addition to this news, Cathay General Bancorp declared its quarterly dividend on May 30th which will be paid on Friday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on this date will receive a dividend of $0.34 per share. The dividend yield currently stands at an impressive rate of 4.65%, demonstrating Cathay General Bancorp’s commitment to shareholder value.
It is interesting to note that Director Richard Sun recently acquired over $200k worth (6,100 shares) of Cathey General Bancorp’s stock on April 25th at an average cost per share of $35.00 per share. Corporate insiders like Richard Sun control around 4.62% percent controlling stakes in the company.
The openness about insider transactions and other financials takes increased importance in times when transparency has become paramount for companies around the world aiming to build trust and keep close personal contact with stakeholders. In conclusion: while one cannot predict anything about future market movements or what other moves important players are planning regarding their coveted shares within an institution like Cathay – decisions like these undoubtedly disrupt long-term forecasts and visualizations we have made for the bank.
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Cathay General Bancorp Sees Changes in Stock Ownership by Institutional Investors Amid Mixed Analyst Opinions
Cathay General Bancorp, a financial institution offering personal and commercial banking services, has recently seen changes in their stock ownership by various institutional investors. State Street Corp has notably increased their stake in the company by 9.4% during the first quarter, now owning over 3 million shares worth $165,970,000. Other institutional investors such as Millennium Management LLC and LSV Asset Management also raised their stakes in Cathay General Bancorp during the last quarter.
Several equities analysts have recently released reports on CATY shares as well. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $35 to $34, while Wedbush set an “outperform” rating on the stock and cut their price objective from $42 to $40. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods also decreased their price objective from $50 to $40, setting a “market perform” rating on the stock.
Despite these changes, Cathay General Bancorp recently disclosed a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share to be paid to stockholders of record on May 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 4.65% and a dividend payout ratio (DPR) of 26.25%.
NASDAQ CATY opened at $29.24 on June 1st and currently holds a market capitalization of $2.12 billion with a P/E ratio of 5.64 and beta of 1.14.The bank reported higher than expected earnings for Q1 with an EPS of $1.32 compared to analyst estimates of $1.29.
With institutional investors owning 67.15% of the company’s stock and analysts holding mixed opinions on its future performance, it remains unclear what lies ahead for Cathay General Bancorp in the coming months and years. However, as evidenced by recent stake increases by several major institutional investors, some believe that this financial institution still has potential for growth and success in the future.
