Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Sold by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC lowered its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 74.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,469 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 113,622 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,925 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $625,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 57,646 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,788,000 after buying an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,036 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 8,685 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $62.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.76. The company has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $43.65 and a 1-year high of $63.91.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The firm had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.75.

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.