Anchorage Capital, which is led by Kevin Michael Ulrih and Anthony Davis, reduced its stake in Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) by 1.5 million shares, according to a recent filing with the SEC. The move is in connection with an underwriting agreement previously signed with Central Pacific, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Carlyle Financial Services Harbor LP. Anchorage’s current holding comprises 2.77 million shares and amasses about 8.8% of the $712.49 million financial company’s outstanding stock.
Founded in 2003, Anchorage Capital currently has about $21.6 billion in regulatory assets under its management. The long/short equity fund invests in public equity and fixed income markets across the U.S. and Europe. The value of the firm’s public equity portfolio stood at $3.58 billion at the end of March, with holdings in financial companies amassing 34% of this value.
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So far this year Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF)’s stock has risen by nearly 6%, which is more than the average gains of 3.5% for its Regional US Banks peers. In its financial results for the second trimester, Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) beat the bottom line estimates by delivering an EPS of $0.39, which was $0.08 higher than expectations. Revenues of $37.29 million also came in $5.99 million higher than anticipated. The company profited from the construction financing during the quarter as a number of projects reached their completion. Going forward Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) intends to focus on income property lending such as retail or apartment buildings as well as mortgages, according to president and chief banking officer Lance Mizumoto.
Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) has also managed to reduce nonperforming assets by 23.8% during the quarter to $32.1 million. This has been an ongoing trend for the last couple of quarters and is the consequence of the management’s goal to engage the bank’s customers and reach successful resolutions. While the loans and lease portfolio increased by $38.3 million to $3.01 billion from the prior quarter, core deposits registered an increase of $46.5 million to $3.38 billion. The net interest margin also rose during the quarter to 3.32% from 3.28% in the March quarter.
Smart money have been showing a mixed interest in Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF). Among the funds that we track, a total of 11 had investments in the company at the end of March, up from 8 funds at the end of the previous quarter. However, the aggregate amount invested decreased to $145.58 million from $215.51 million during this period, while the stock climbed by 7.4%. After Anchorage, the two largest stockholders of Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE:CPF) are Ken Griffin‘s Citadel Investment Group and Marshall Wace LLP, which is led by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace.
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