William Blair Investment Management LLC Invests $26.05 Million in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 420,258 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $26,052,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $604,644,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $41,140,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,799,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,430,000 after purchasing an additional 484,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,189,000 after purchasing an additional 331,997 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY stock opened at $62.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.56. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $44.57 and a fifty-two week high of $65.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The business’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 EPS. Analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total transaction of $1,266,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $463,112.65. This represents a 73.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 28,000 shares of company stock worth $1,772,020 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Stephens upped 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 report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.25.

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.