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 Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.85, for a total value of $478,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 145,950 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,983,707.50. This represents a 6.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of CATY traded up $1.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.83. 398,050 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 410,515. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $36.06 and a 52 week high of $55.29. The company has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.05 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.57.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $210.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.71 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 10.60%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5,438.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens downgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.60.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.