Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) EVP Thomas Lo Sells 1,600 Shares of Stock

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) EVP Thomas Lo sold 1,600 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $99,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,554.14. The trade was a 40.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ CATY opened at $62.12 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $44.57 and a 52 week high of $65.25. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The company had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.69%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $604,644,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 6,522.1% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,520,125 shares of the bank’s stock worth $280,203,000 after buying an additional 4,451,867 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,050,007 shares of the bank’s stock worth $201,930,000 after buying an additional 17,444 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock worth $81,547,000 after buying an additional 105,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,140,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

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.