Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Bought by Convergence Investment Partners LLC

Convergence Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 42.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,316 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 13,223 shares during the quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $62.00 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $43.65 and a twelve month high of $63.91. The company has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The company had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were given a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CATY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.