Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 139,490 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,988,343 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 139,490 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.22% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $380,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 189.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the bank’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 68.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,730 shares of the bank’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,517 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $42.89 on Thursday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $33.88 and a 1-year high of $55.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $45.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.76. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.83 and a beta of 0.99. 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 (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 34.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.80.

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.