Insider Selling: Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Director Sells $316,550.00 in Stock

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Director Richard Sun sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total transaction of $316,550.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $401,385.40. This represents a 44.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Richard Sun also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, July 29th, Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of CATY stock traded up $0.16 on Friday, reaching $63.19. The stock had a trading volume of 563,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 525,346. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $43.65 and a 1 year high of $63.91. The stock has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.18.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.69%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to buy up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 183,090 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,878,000 after buying an additional 8,914 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on CATY shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.