Dean Capital Management Trims Stock Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Dean Capital Management trimmed its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 41.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 39,721 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 28,623 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,922,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CATY. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth $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% during 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 worth $7,878,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CATY shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of CATY stock opened at $59.09 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $56.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.56. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $42.92 and a 1-year high of $61.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The firm had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to buy up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 127,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 business’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 directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341 in the last 90 days. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.