Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Chairman Sells $478,500.00 in Stock

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Chairman Dunson Cheng sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.85, for a total transaction of $478,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 145,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,983,707.50. This trade represents a 6.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 3.6%

NASDAQ:CATY traded up $1.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.83. 398,050 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 410,515. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $36.06 and a fifty-two week high of $55.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $47.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.57.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted 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). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 22.26%.The company had revenue of $210.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.71 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 31.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $36,348,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,856,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $23,188,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,189,000 after acquiring an additional 331,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,077,000. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CATY has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens lowered Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.60.

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.