Swiss National Bank Sells 3,700 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,100 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.19% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $5,641,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,970,173 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,807,000 after acquiring an additional 108,672 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $4,587,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3,878.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 87,050 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,746,000 after acquiring an additional 84,862 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $3,336,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 118.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 90,721 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,319,000 after acquiring an additional 49,129 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CATY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Stephens cut shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.71.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $47.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 11.51 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $36.06 and a 1-year high of $55.29. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.32.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 21.44% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The business had revenue of $196.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.04 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 4th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.85%.

Cathay General Bancorp Company 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.