Arizona State Retirement System Sells 349 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Arizona State Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,271 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 349 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CATY. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the bank’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 73.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,157 shares of the bank’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,321 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 2,569.6% during the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,723 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 2,621 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.20.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total value of $304,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 204,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,885,525. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.62% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of CATY opened at $34.54 on Wednesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $27.24 and a twelve month high of $45.72. The company has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.11 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.79.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.15. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 27.02% and a return on equity of 13.89%. The business had revenue of $205.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.95 million. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.98%.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.