Norges Bank Invests $36.35 Million in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 798,330 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $36,348,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CATY. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 4,965 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,156 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,464,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.7% during the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 21,105 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,769 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.8% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,423 shares of the bank’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $49.86 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.88. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $36.06 and a 52-week high of $52.43.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $202.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CATY. Wall Street Zen raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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 research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.60.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 7,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.81, for a total value of $362,877.90. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 138,360 shares in the company, valued at $6,614,991.60. The trade was a 5.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 5,165 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total value of $238,829.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,016,022.72. The trade was a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 38,755 shares of company stock valued at $1,820,148. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

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.