Caprock Group LLC Acquires Shares of 13,882 Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,882 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $698,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 5,438.5% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 101.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $112,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CATY shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $50,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $100,460. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 14,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total transaction of $647,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 155,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,211,128. The trade was a 8.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 33,590 shares of company stock worth $1,584,718 over the last quarter. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $53.33 on Tuesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $36.06 and a 12-month high of $54.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50-day moving average is $50.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $222.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.76 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This is an increase from Cathay General Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 29.96%.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.