Capital Fund Management S.A. Invests $1.37 Million in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Capital Fund Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 29,970 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CATY. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the first quarter worth approximately $25,856,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $23,188,000. CSM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,077,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 108,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 46.4% during the 1st quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 259,783 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,178,000 after purchasing an additional 82,374 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.83, for a total value of $46,830.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $140,490. The trade was a 25.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 7,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.81, for a total transaction of $362,877.90. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 138,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,614,991.60. The trade was a 5.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 38,755 shares of company stock valued at $1,820,148 over the last quarter. 4.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on CATY. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $50.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.88. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $36.06 and a 1-year high of $52.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $47.41 and a 200-day moving average of $46.93.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $210.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.71 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 10.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.41%.

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.