Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Stock Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 51.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,933 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 10,671 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,641 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.9% during the second quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 4,965 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,156 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,464,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 21,105 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $961,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,769 shares of the bank’s stock worth $126,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.83, for a total transaction of $46,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,490. The trade was a 25.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 14,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total value of $647,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 155,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,211,128. The trade was a 8.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 38,755 shares of company stock valued at $1,820,148. 4.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $50.73 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $49.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.37. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $36.06 and a 52 week high of $54.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 0.85.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $222.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.76 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 22.76%.During the same period last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CATY shares. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol CATY. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides a full suite of financial services to commercial, institutional and retail clients. As a community-focused institution, the company emphasizes relationship banking and tailored solutions for businesses and individuals.

Founded in 1962 by a group of Chinese American entrepreneurs, Cathay has expanded from a single branch operation in downtown Los Angeles into one of the largest Asian-American banks in the United States.