Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 13,938 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 333,639 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 13,938 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $16,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,641 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.9% during the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 4,965 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.6% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,703 shares of the bank’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,156 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.1% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,769 shares of the bank’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total value of $50,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,460. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total transaction of $647,360.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly 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 sold a total of 33,590 shares of company stock worth $1,584,718 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $54.22 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $36.06 and a 1-year high of $54.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $50.50 and a 200 day moving average of $48.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 0.87.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.13. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $222.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.76 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.