153,091 Shares in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Bought by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 153,091 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $7,426,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $550,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,547,000 after purchasing an additional 105,484 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 35,984 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,159 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 384.9% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,831 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 6,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $334,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $62.05 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.02. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $43.65 and a 12-month high of $62.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.26 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued 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 was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 31.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $243,492.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.