Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Vice Chairman Sells $1,146,600.00 in Stock

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,780,197.16. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY stock opened at $57.45 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 11.85 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50-day moving average is $51.43 and its 200-day moving average is $50.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $41.83 and a 1 year high of $58.00.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.27 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a boost from Cathay General Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CATY. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two equities research 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 $52.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 101.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 36.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 979 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $76,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% 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.