SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 389.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,995 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,932 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $2,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CATY. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 5,438.5% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,423 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $112,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 1.8%

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $49.57 on Tuesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $36.06 and a 52 week high of $51.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $48.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, CEO Chang Liu sold 5,165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total value of $238,829.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 108,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,016,022.72. This trade represents a 4.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.83, for a total transaction of $46,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,490. This represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. 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. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.