WINTON GROUP Ltd Takes $738,000 Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 15,246 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $738,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,355,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 51.9% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 2,317 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 669,527 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,398,000 after purchasing an additional 48,034 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 580,038 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,068,000 after purchasing an additional 67,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,140,000. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CATY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $59.49 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $55.45 and a 200 day moving average of $52.08. The firm has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.27 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $42.01 and a 1 year high of $60.08.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $243,492.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 127,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341 in the last three months. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.