Legal & General Group Plc Acquires New Position in Cathay General Bancorp $CATY

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 156,248 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $9,686,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.23% of Cathay General Bancorp as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $604,644,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,050,007 shares of the bank’s stock worth $201,930,000 after acquiring an additional 17,444 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,547,000 after purchasing an additional 105,484 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $41,140,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 669,527 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,398,000 after purchasing an additional 48,034 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $60.73 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $44.57 and a twelve month high of $65.25.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The company had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Friday, August 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $463,112.65. This represents a 73.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $99,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $147,554.14. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 30,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,934,052. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

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.