Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 233,928 shares of the bank's stock after selling 24,521 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.33% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $11,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,231,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 821.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 381,764 shares of the bank's stock worth $18,176,000 after purchasing an additional 340,329 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 112.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 331,862 shares of the bank's stock worth $15,800,000 after buying an additional 175,737 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 339.6% in the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 143,727 shares of the bank's stock worth $6,843,000 after purchasing an additional 111,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,861,501 shares of the bank's stock worth $136,236,000 after buying an additional 102,724 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CATY traded up $0.95 during trading on Friday, hitting $43.00. 62,277 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 351,417. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $34.75 and a 12-month high of $55.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.84 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The business had revenue of $187.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.17 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CATY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.60.

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.