Cathay General Bancorp $CATY Shares Sold by Comerica Bank

Comerica Bank lowered its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 19.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,635 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 8,859 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CATY. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth $25,856,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter worth $23,188,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,970,173 shares of the bank’s stock worth $127,807,000 after purchasing an additional 108,672 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $4,587,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3,878.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 87,050 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,746,000 after purchasing an additional 84,862 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY opened at $49.83 on Thursday. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $36.06 and a fifty-two week high of $55.29. The company has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.04 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.10. The business had revenue of $196.61 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.04 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 21.44% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 28th will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.85%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 4th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CATY has been the topic of several research reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stephens lowered Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $53.00 price objective on Cathay General Bancorp and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.71.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.