Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Buys 11,895 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Key Points

• Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 21.6%, acquiring an additional 11,895 shares, bringing its total to 66,931 shares valued at approximately $3,047,000.
• Institutional investors own 75.01% of Cathay General Bancorp's stock, with several hedge funds recently reporting significant increases in their holdings.
• Cathay General Bancorp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.34 per share and initiated a buyback program allowing the company to repurchase up to $150 million in shares.

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,931 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 11,895 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.10% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $3,047,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,856,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $23,188,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,970,173 shares of the bank's stock valued at $127,807,000 after acquiring an additional 108,672 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $4,587,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 3,878.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 87,050 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,746,000 after acquiring an additional 84,862 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CATY shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stephens downgraded 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 report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Cathay General Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $50.17.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CATY traded down $0.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $48.94. 338,088 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 418,500. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $48.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $36.06 and a 12 month high of $55.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 4th that authorizes the company to buyback $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.85%.

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.