NFJ Investment Group LLC Takes Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 16,471 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,021,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $275,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $1,631,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $604,644,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $4,243,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $31,000. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CATY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $62.30 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $44.57 and a 52-week high of $65.25.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. The business 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 was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,315 shares in the company, valued at $463,112.65. This represents a 73.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 28,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,772,020 in the last three months. Corporate 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.