Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Sold by Dean Capital Management

Dean Capital Management trimmed its position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 65.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,659 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 26,062 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CATY shares. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $62.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $43.65 and a 52 week high of $63.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.76.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 29.69%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Profile

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.