Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Chairman Sells $362,877.90 in Stock

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Chairman Dunson Cheng sold 7,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.81, for a total transaction of $362,877.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 138,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,614,991.60. The trade was a 5.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY traded down $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.13. 644,400 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 411,566. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.97. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $36.06 and a fifty-two week high of $53.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 22.26%.The business had revenue of $210.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.71 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CATY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday. Stephens lowered Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.60.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $345,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $48,000. Harvest Investment Services LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $427,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $3,910,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 674.4% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 93,282 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 81,236 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.