Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Purchased by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 150,601 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,868 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $7,230,000 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 raised its position 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 valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 3,030 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in 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 period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter valued at $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $7,878,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $48.89 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $36.06 and a twelve month high of $54.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.24.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $222.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.76 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 22.76%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. This is a positive change from Cathay General Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $50,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,460. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

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.