Paloma Partners Management Co Invests $283,000 in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,479 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $283,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,254,816 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $367,917,000 after purchasing an additional 196,146 shares during the period. Willner & Heller LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $2,014,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $946,000. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 970,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $43,257,000 after buying an additional 3,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $982,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY stock traded up $0.37 on Tuesday, reaching $44.36. 51,173 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 345,436. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $32.08 and a 1 year high of $45.88.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. The company had revenue of $178.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.09%.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, EVP Kim R. Bingham sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.89, for a total transaction of $269,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 45,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,043,841.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total value of $903,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kim R. Bingham sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.89, for a total transaction of $269,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,530 shares in the company, valued at $2,043,841.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.00.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.