Sei Investments Co. Has $1.77 Million Stock Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 60.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 35,498 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,353 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock worth $634,000 after acquiring an additional 3,030 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during 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 position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 183,090 shares of the bank’s stock worth $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 and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on CATY shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $63.41 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.70. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $44.57 and a one year high of $64.89.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The company’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 29.69%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard Sun sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total transaction of $316,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $401,385.40. This represents a 44.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.