AlphaQuest LLC Purchases Shares of 21,427 Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 21,427 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $976,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $46,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 174.8% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 36.8% in the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,423 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth about $112,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $46.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.84 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $48.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.77. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $36.06 and a 1 year high of $55.29.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 31.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens downgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, August 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target 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. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.