Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Acquired by Invesco Ltd.

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ: CATY) by 3.8%, owning approximately 2.25% of the company, valued at $67.9 million.
• Cathay General Bancorp reported $1.10 earnings per share, meeting analyst expectations, and has a quarterly revenue growth of 10.1% compared to the same period last year.
• The company has initiated a $150 million stock buyback program and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share, reflecting a 2.9% dividend yield.

Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,577,657 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 58,215 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 2.25% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $67,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% during 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. increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,268,030 shares of the bank's stock worth $60,371,000 after buying an additional 6,081 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 2.4% during 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 during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 2.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 354,457 shares of the bank's stock valued at $15,252,000 after acquiring an additional 8,860 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CATY shares. DA Davidson raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $53.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $49.71.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of CATY stock traded down $0.0370 on Thursday, hitting $47.7130. The stock had a trading volume of 29,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 424,646. The company's 50 day moving average price is $46.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.37. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $36.06 and a 1 year 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 0.97.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 21.44% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The firm had revenue of $196.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.85%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 4th that permits the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.