Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 8.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 305,043 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,615 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $14,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CATY. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 37,153 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $698,000. MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 77.0% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,483 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 101.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.0%

CATY opened at $53.33 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $36.06 and a one year high of $54.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.85.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $222.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.76 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 22.76%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 29.96%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 14,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total transaction of $647,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 155,950 shares in the company, valued at $7,211,128. This represents a 8.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $50,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $100,460. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 33,590 shares of company stock worth $1,584,718 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

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.