Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) CEO Chang Liu Sells 4,836 Shares

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $243,492.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $51.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $50.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.32. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $36.60 and a 1-year high of $54.99.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $222.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.76 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is an increase from Cathay General Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 33.48%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,547,000 after acquiring an additional 105,484 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $41,140,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 669,527 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,398,000 after purchasing an additional 48,034 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 580,038 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,068,000 after purchasing an additional 67,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,430,000 after purchasing an additional 484,149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.50.

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.