Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,900,000 shares, a drop of 20.8% from the March 31st total of 2,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 460,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company's stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 63.5% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 850 shares of the bank's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $82,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 189.8% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the bank's stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the bank's stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CATY. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:CATY traded up $0.13 on Wednesday, hitting $42.36. 70,548 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 423,403. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $34.75 and a 52 week high of $55.29. The company has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.14.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $187.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.17 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.34%.

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.