Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 3.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 159,447 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,300 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $7,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CATY. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,156 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 43.5% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,649 shares of the bank’s stock worth $667,000 after buying an additional 4,442 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 205.6% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,063 shares of the bank’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 8,116 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 18,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 15,472 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.85, for a total transaction of $478,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 145,950 shares in the company, valued at $6,983,707.50. This represents a 6.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 5,165 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total value of $238,829.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,478 shares in the company, valued at $5,016,022.72. This trade represents a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,165 shares of company stock valued at $1,457,270. Insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 3.6%

CATY stock opened at $47.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.05 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $36.06 and a one year high of $55.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $47.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.63.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $210.61 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $202.71 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 10.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 31.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stephens cut shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.