Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.34

Key Points

• Cathay General Bancorp declared a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, with the payment scheduled for September 8th to investors on record by August 28th, resulting in a dividend yield of 2.9%.
• The company has a payout ratio of 27.6%, indicating that the dividend is well-supported by its earnings, with an expected future payout ratio of 28.6% based on projected earnings.
• Cathay General Bancorp's stock buyback program allows for the repurchase of up to $150 million worth of shares, reflecting management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, August 15th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the bank on Monday, September 8th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 28th.

Cathay General Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 27.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cathay General Bancorp to earn $4.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.6%.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:CATY traded up $0.04 on Wednesday, hitting $47.75. 265,794 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 430,175. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.37. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $36.06 and a 52 week high of $55.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 0.97.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 21.44%.The firm had revenue of $196.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.04 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,230,722 shares of the bank's stock worth $201,426,000 after purchasing an additional 12,684 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,970,173 shares of the bank's stock worth $127,807,000 after buying an additional 108,672 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,577,657 shares of the bank's stock worth $67,887,000 after buying an additional 58,215 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,268,030 shares of the bank's stock valued at $60,371,000 after buying an additional 6,081 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 957,773 shares of the bank's stock valued at $45,600,000 after buying an additional 22,055 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company's stock.

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.