Short Interest in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Decreases By 6.5%

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the November 15th total of 2,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 289,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.9 days. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 295,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,609,973.24. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047 over the last quarter. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,194,232 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $158,206,000 after buying an additional 176,215 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,758,777 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,489,000 after purchasing an additional 87,847 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,615,000 after buying an additional 20,840 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,262,970 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,639,000 after buying an additional 208,599 shares during the period. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. raised 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 buying an additional 72,300 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the topic of several research reports. Stephens upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY opened at $50.02 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. 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 $49.12 and a 200-day moving average of $43.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.26%.

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.