Royce & Associates LP Has $2.12 Million Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 25.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,420 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,022 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.07% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $2,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $201,000. Aigen Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 6,108 shares of the bank’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $671,000. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 150,938 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 179.5% in the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 49,688 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,134,000 after purchasing an additional 31,912 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $50.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.56. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $33.88 and a fifty-two week high of $54.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 1.10.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 20.57%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 34.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on CATY. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,873. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $555,440.79. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. This represents a 7.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,590 shares of company stock valued at $3,055,488 over the last ninety days. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.