Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 167,048 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,418 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.25% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $8,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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. MQS Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 125.6% during the fourth quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 15,285 shares of the bank’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 8,511 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,925 shares of the bank’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $1,505,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CATY shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $243,492.60. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341. 4.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of CATY opened at $58.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $54.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.76. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $42.01 and a twelve month high of $58.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.34%.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Company 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.