Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Director Richard Sun Sells 20,000 Shares of Stock

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,315 shares in the company, valued at $463,112.65. This represents a 73.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Richard Sun also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, July 30th, Richard Sun sold 5,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $316,550.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.3%

CATY opened at $63.19 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $43.65 and a 1 year high of $63.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program 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 programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on CATY shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Stephens upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.