Public Sector Pension Investment Board Buys 82,374 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board has increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 46.4%, now owning 259,783 shares valued at approximately $11.18 million.
• Several analysts have issued mixed ratings and target price adjustments for Cathay General Bancorp, with an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $49.71.
• Cathay General Bancorp recently announced a $150 million stock buyback program, allowing for the repurchase of up to 5% of its outstanding shares.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 46.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 259,783 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 82,374 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.37% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $11,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CATY. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $23,188,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,970,173 shares of the bank's stock worth $127,807,000 after purchasing an additional 108,672 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $4,587,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,519,442 shares of the bank's stock valued at $72,341,000 after acquiring an additional 85,963 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 3,878.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 87,050 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,746,000 after acquiring an additional 84,862 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stephens cut Cathay General Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, August 4th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $53.00 price objective on Cathay General Bancorp and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $49.71.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 2.1%

NASDAQ CATY traded down $1.02 on Friday, reaching $47.30. 395,771 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 443,425. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.34. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 0.97. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $36.06 and a 12 month high of $55.29.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 28th will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is 32.85%.

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