SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 96.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,411 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,659 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $258,000 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,758,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,489,000 after acquiring an additional 87,847 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,615,000 after acquiring an additional 20,840 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 821.4% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 381,764 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,176,000 after buying an additional 340,329 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 256,404 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,013,000 after purchasing an additional 72,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $7,493,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CATY shares. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY opened at $47.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.88 and a twelve month high of $55.29. The business’s 50 day moving average is $48.45 and its 200-day moving average is $46.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 1.12.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. On average, analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.33 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.34%.

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.