Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) CEO Sells $243,492.60 in Stock

Key Points

• CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares on April 6 at an average price of $50.35 for a total of $243,492.60, executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, reducing his stake by 3.65% to 127,819 shares (~$6.44M).
• Q4 results beat expectations: Cathay reported EPS of $1.33 vs. $1.20 consensus and revenue of $222.8M, and the bank raised its quarterly dividend to $0.38 (annualized $1.52, ~3.0% yield).
• The stock traded at $51.51 (+0.3%), the company has a market cap of ~$3.45B and a P/E of 11.35, institutional investors own about 75% of shares, and analysts' consensus rating is a "Hold" with an average price target of $52.50.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $243,492.60. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.3%

Cathay General Bancorp stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.51. 329,107 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 479,526. The company's 50-day moving average is $50.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $36.60 and a 52-week high of $54.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.82.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.13. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $222.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is a positive change from Cathay General Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. 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%. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average 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.

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