Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 305,043 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 24,615 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.44% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $14,645,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 5,438.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 720 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 101.8% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth $112,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total value of $50,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $100,460. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 7,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.81, for a total transaction of $362,877.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 138,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,614,991.60. This trade represents a 5.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 33,590 shares of company stock worth $1,584,718 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CATY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.50.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $53.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $50.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.85. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $36.06 and a 52-week high of $54.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

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.