Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 4.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 333,639 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 13,938 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $16,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 9.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,641 shares of the bank’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 4,965 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,703 shares of the bank’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,156 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,464,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,769 shares of the bank’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CATY shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $50,230.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,460. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 7,590 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.81, for a total transaction of $362,877.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 138,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,614,991.60. The trade was a 5.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 33,590 shares of company stock worth $1,584,718 over the last three months. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $54.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $36.06 and a fifty-two week high of $54.99.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.13. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 22.76%.The firm had revenue of $222.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.76 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 29.96%.

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.