Horizon Investments LLC Takes $745,000 Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Horizon Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 15,392 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $745,000.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of CATY stock opened at $56.99 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a PE ratio of 11.75 and a beta of 0.87. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $41.83 and a 1 year high of $58.00. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.27 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. This is a positive change from Cathay General Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CATY has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341. Corporate insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.