Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Has $23.43 Million Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 1,274,076.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 484,149 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $23,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,579,719 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $75,842,000 after purchasing an additional 53,621 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,189,000 after buying an additional 331,997 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 386,291 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,546,000 after buying an additional 77,228 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 305,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,645,000 after buying an additional 24,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 197,969 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,504,000 after buying an additional 31,270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $57.66 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $42.01 and a 52-week high of $58.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $53.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.27 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

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.