Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Lowers Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lowered its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,112 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,169 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,243,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 74,394 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 156,125 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,706,000 after buying an additional 9,724 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 151,459 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,256,000 after acquiring an additional 7,186 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 821.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 381,764 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,176,000 after acquiring an additional 340,329 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CATY. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY opened at $42.94 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.84 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.09. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $34.75 and a 52-week high of $55.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The business had revenue of $187.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.34%.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.