Commerce Bank Acquires Shares of 9,081 Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Commerce Bank bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 9,081 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $563,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,738,000 after buying an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position 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. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total value of $99,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,554.14. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $463,112.65. This represents a 73.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 30,600 shares of company stock worth $1,934,052 over the last 90 days. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $62.12 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.84. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $44.57 and a fifty-two week high of $65.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.69%.

Cathay General Bancorp Company 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.