Weiss Asset Management LP Buys New Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 43,628 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,175,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,140,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $23,430,000 after acquiring an additional 484,149 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,189,000 after purchasing an additional 331,997 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,426,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,355,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CATY shares. Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Stephens upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY stock opened at $62.92 on Monday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $43.65 and a 12 month high of $63.91. The firm has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

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

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

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.