Peter Wu Sells 7,289 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 7,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.05, for a total value of $342,947.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 347,963 shares in the company, valued at $16,371,659.15. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY traded down $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $45.93. 222,673 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 325,352. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $33.88 and a one year high of $47.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $43.64 and its 200 day moving average is $40.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.11.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. The company had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CATY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.00.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 794 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.