Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Lowers Stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management decreased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,594 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 311 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $3,116,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 178,450 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,996,000 after purchasing an additional 24,317 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 970,537 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,257,000 after purchasing an additional 3,385 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,654,350 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,505,000 after purchasing an additional 75,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 14,338 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 2,425 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $37.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 8.22 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $27.75 and a 1-year high of $45.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.88.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.04). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.41% and a return on equity of 13.02%. The company had revenue of $339.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CATY shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

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.