Legato Capital Management LLC Trims Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Legato Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 51.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,961 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 21,818 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 101.8% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 36.0% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 979 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $48,000. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $57.27 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $41.83 and a fifty-two week high of $58.00. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.87.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The firm had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341 over the last quarter. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.