Cathay General Bancorp Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.38 (NASDAQ:CATY)

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th will be given a dividend of 0.38 per share by the bank on Tuesday, June 9th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 28th.

Cathay General Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years. Cathay General Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 30.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cathay General Bancorp to earn $5.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.5%.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY stock opened at $57.27 on Tuesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $41.83 and a one year high of $58.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.12. The stock has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.87.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The firm had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, 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 transaction of $31,248.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $243,492.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341 over the last 90 days. 4.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CATY. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock worth $634,000 after buying an additional 3,030 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 183,090 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,878,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

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.