Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 18,827 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 5.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 340,483 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 18,827 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.48% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $14,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 92.2% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 20,728 shares of the bank’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 9,945 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,615,000 after purchasing an additional 20,840 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 74,394 shares in the last quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dean Investment Associates LLC now owns 52,366 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 10,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 37.2% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 90,419 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,883,000 after buying an additional 24,529 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $48.04 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $33.88 and a 12-month high of $55.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $49.61 and a 200-day moving average of $44.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 1.12.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

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

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.