40,486 Shares in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 40,486 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,804,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.06% of Cathay General Bancorp as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CATY. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 10.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,058,670 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $280,119,000 after acquiring an additional 749,370 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,027,984 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,493,000 after acquiring an additional 82,525 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.8% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,654,350 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,505,000 after acquiring an additional 75,749 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 8.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,540,402 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,543,000 after acquiring an additional 124,851 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 970,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $43,257,000 after acquiring an additional 3,385 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total transaction of $304,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 204,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,885,525. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 6th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY opened at $35.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.75 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $27.24 and a 1-year high of $45.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.79.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.04). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 24.41%. The firm had revenue of $339.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.32 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.09%.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.