9,753,895 Shares in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Bought by BlackRock Inc.

Key Points

• BlackRock acquired 9,753,895 shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter, valued at approximately $604.6 million, giving it a 14.55% stake. Institutional investors collectively own 75.01% of CATY.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with a $62.25 target price; CATY recently traded at $62.30 within a 52-week range of $44.57 to $65.25.
• Cathay General Bancorp exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.37 in EPS and $221.2 million in revenue, while declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.38, equivalent to a 2.4% annual yield.

BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 9,753,895 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $604,644,000. BlackRock Inc. owned 14.55% of Cathay General Bancorp at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CATY. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,925 shares of the bank's stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 6.2% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,583 shares of the bank's stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,068 shares of the bank's stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 57,646 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,788,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 36,078 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,799,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,315 shares in the company, valued at $463,112.65. The trade was a 73.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 28,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,772,020 in the last 90 days. 4.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on CATY. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $62.30 on Monday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $44.57 and a 52-week high of $65.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business's 50 day moving average is $62.35 and its 200 day moving average is $56.59. The stock has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.69%.

Cathay General Bancorp 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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