153,091 Shares in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Bought by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 153,091 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $7,426,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.23% of Cathay General Bancorp at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after buying an additional 6,740 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after buying an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 183,090 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,878,000 after buying an additional 8,914 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,780,197.16. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $243,492.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,435,686.65. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of CATY opened at $62.05 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $43.65 and a fifty-two week high of $62.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.44 and a 200 day moving average of $53.02. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The firm had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 31.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CATY. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.75.

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.