Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 84,432 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,878 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.12% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $4,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CATY. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,861,501 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $136,236,000 after acquiring an additional 102,724 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,615,000 after purchasing an additional 20,840 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,471,066 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,037,000 after buying an additional 72,532 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $36,231,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 821.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 381,764 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,176,000 after buying an additional 340,329 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $37.32 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $33.88 and a 1 year high of $55.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.44. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.99.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.