Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Stock Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 28.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,076 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 17,442 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $2,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CATY. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% in 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 increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% during 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 during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 8,914 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, Director Richard Sun sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total value of $189,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $176,652. This represents a 51.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,772,020. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY opened at $64.61 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.06. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $44.57 and a 12-month high of $65.05.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The company had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.