Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases 2,855 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 11.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 27,430 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,855 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CATY. Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $214,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 2.1% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 21,023 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $905,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.3% in the first quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 97,574 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,199,000 after buying an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth $220,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 729 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $32,805.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 4,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $180,000. This represents a 15.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CATY shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $53.00 price objective on Cathay General Bancorp and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.86.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY opened at $44.83 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.47. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $36.06 and a 52-week high of $55.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.83 and a beta of 0.97.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 21.44%. The company had revenue of $196.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 4th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.