Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Bought by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% in the first quarter, ending with about 4.05 million shares worth roughly $201.9 million, or about 6.05% of the company.
• Cathay General Bancorp reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $1.37 beating expectations and revenue of $221.2 million topping estimates; revenue also rose 13.1% year over year.
• The bank’s board authorized a share repurchase plan and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 2.4%.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,050,007 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 17,444 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 6.05% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $201,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CATY. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 4.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday. Stephens increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $60.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $62.92 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $43.65 and a 52-week high of $63.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.72. The company has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The company had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $218.28 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is 29.69%.

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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