Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 22,300 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 186.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 34,271 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,300 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard Sun sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total transaction of $316,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $401,385.40. The trade was a 44.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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 report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of CATY stock opened at $63.70 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $44.57 and a 52-week high of $64.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.57 and its 200 day moving average is $55.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its 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. The business had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The firm’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

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.