Insider Selling: Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) EVP Sells $99,952.00 in Stock

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) EVP Thomas Lo sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $99,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,554.14. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $61.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $44.57 and a 52-week high of $65.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.87.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.28 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 29.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $604,644,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 6,522.1% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,520,125 shares of the bank’s stock worth $280,203,000 after acquiring an additional 4,451,867 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,050,007 shares of the bank’s stock worth $201,930,000 after buying an additional 17,444 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock worth $81,547,000 after buying an additional 105,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $41,140,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CATY. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.