Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Acquires 11,895 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,931 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,895 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.10% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $3,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 164.2% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 31,228 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 19,410 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 259.0% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 76,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,273,000 after purchasing an additional 54,870 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $112,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 32.7% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,172 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 11,614 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 43.8% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 85,426 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,676,000 after acquiring an additional 26,027 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens cut shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, August 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.17.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $49.24 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 11.89 and a beta of 1.00. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 21.44% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The firm had revenue of $196.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 28th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.85%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 4th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.