Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Increases Stock Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 1,274,076.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 484,149 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $23,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 331,997 shares during the period. HRT Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth $3,987,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter worth $3,910,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 674.4% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 93,282 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,478,000 after buying an additional 81,236 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.0% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 386,291 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,546,000 after buying an additional 77,228 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $243,492.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 127,819 shares in the company, valued at $6,435,686.65. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $56.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.80. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $41.83 and a twelve month high of $58.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.27 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 31.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CATY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.00.

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.