New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $5.20 Million Stock Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 120,853 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,407 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.17% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $5,200,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CATY. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $36,231,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 112.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 331,862 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,800,000 after purchasing an additional 175,737 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,587,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,519,442 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $72,341,000 after purchasing an additional 85,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 3,878.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 87,050 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,746,000 after purchasing an additional 84,862 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 729 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $32,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 4,000 shares in the company, valued at $180,000. This represents a 15.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CATY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $53.00 target price on Cathay General Bancorp and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.17.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY opened at $47.99 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.12 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.94 and a 200-day moving average of $44.43. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $36.06 and a 52-week high of $55.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 20.55%. The firm had revenue of $187.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 4th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 34.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp Profile

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.