Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY – Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 29,800 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,486,000.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 150,601 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,230,000 after purchasing an additional 42,868 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,430,000 after buying an additional 484,149 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,505,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,550,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms have recently weighed in on CATY. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.75.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Cathay General Bancorp news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $243,492.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance
NASDAQ CATY opened at $62.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $43.65 and a 52-week high of $63.72. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.
Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The company had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.26 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.
Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.34%.
Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
About Cathay General Bancorp
Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol CATY. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides a full suite of financial services to commercial, institutional and retail clients. As a community-focused institution, the company emphasizes relationship banking and tailored solutions for businesses and individuals.
Founded in 1962 by a group of Chinese American entrepreneurs, Cathay has expanded from a single branch operation in downtown Los Angeles into one of the largest Asian-American banks in the United States.
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