LSV Asset Management Sells 25,800 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

LSV Asset Management lowered its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 683,703 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 25,800 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management owned about 0.99% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $32,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CATY. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $36,348,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 309,063 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,072,000 after purchasing an additional 13,513 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 280,428 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,768,000 after purchasing an additional 20,645 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 325.6% during the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 202,577 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,223,000 after purchasing an additional 154,974 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 8,914 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CATY. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.50.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.0%

CATY opened at $53.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $50.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.84. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $36.06 and a fifty-two week high of $54.99.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $222.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.76 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 14,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total transaction of $647,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 155,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,211,128. This trade represents a 8.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $50,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,460. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 33,590 shares of company stock valued at $1,584,718 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

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.