Rafferty Asset Management LLC Buys 11,682 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 20.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,089 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 11,682 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $3,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. TIAA Trust National Association bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $205,000. Choreo LLC grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 15,594 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $749,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 36,452 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,750,000 after purchasing an additional 5,204 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 20,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 2,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 18.3% in the third quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 13,105 shares of the bank’s stock worth $610,000 after buying an additional 2,024 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.50.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $50.14 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $36.06 and a 52-week high of $54.99.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.13. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $222.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Cathay General Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 33.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total value of $50,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,460. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.