Choreo LLC Takes Position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 13,459 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Access Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.1% during the second quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 20,520 shares of the bank’s stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,327 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $729,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 22,334 shares of the bank’s stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.7% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 36,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CATY shares. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $42.32 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.70. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $32.08 and a 1-year high of $45.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 9.36 and a beta of 1.11.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $178.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.19 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The firm’s revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total transaction of $903,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares in the company, valued at $16,053,837.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $555,440.79. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 149,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total transaction of $903,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 355,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,401 shares of company stock worth $1,728,581 over the last three months. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.