Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 700 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,800 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter valued at about $46,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 174.8% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 764 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,423 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 36.8% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter valued at about $112,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CATY. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stephens lowered Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.17.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 5.4%

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $46.34 on Monday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $36.06 and a 12 month high of $55.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $48.40 and a 200-day moving average of $45.32.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.10. The business had revenue of $196.61 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.04 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 21.44%.Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

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.