BNP Paribas Financial Markets Buys 6,838 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 28.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,627 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,838 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CATY. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 504.2% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,568 shares of the bank’s stock worth $927,000 after buying an additional 20,502 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 36.4% during the second quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 36,287 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,344,000 after buying an additional 9,681 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.0% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 136,401 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,145,000 after buying an additional 4,011 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 27.7% in the second quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 8,723 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 1,891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total transaction of $2,114,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 295,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,609,973.24. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,873. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,500,047. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on CATY shares. Stephens raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 1.0 %

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $50.93 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $33.88 and a 52-week high of $55.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $48.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.00.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 20.57%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 34.26%.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.