Convergence Investment Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Convergence Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 42.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,316 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,223 shares during the quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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 buying an additional 3,030 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,708,000 after acquiring an additional 6,740 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% in 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 valued at $7,878,000 after acquiring an additional 8,914 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $62.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $43.65 and a 1 year high of $63.91.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has authorized 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.