Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 12,004 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Voya Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 62,484 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 12,004 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $3,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 5,438.5% in the second 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. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,423 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth $112,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,769 shares of the bank’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, CEO Chang Liu sold 5,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total transaction of $238,829.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 108,478 shares in the company, valued at $5,016,022.72. The trade was a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 7,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.81, for a total value of $362,877.90. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 138,360 shares in the company, valued at $6,614,991.60. The trade was a 5.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,755 shares of company stock valued at $1,820,148. Company insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price 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 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 Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $50.00 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $36.06 and a 12 month high of $51.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.70.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.41%.

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.