JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 9,724 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 6.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 156,125 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,724 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $6,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CATY. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 332.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 19,458 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,615,000 after purchasing an additional 20,840 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,758,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,489,000 after purchasing an additional 87,847 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 74,394 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $378,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Stephens upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of CATY stock opened at $48.55 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $49.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.17. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $33.88 and a 1-year high of $55.29. The company has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.26%.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total value of $2,114,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 295,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,609,973.24. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $42,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,873. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,500,047 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

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.