Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 69.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 130,240 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,406 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $5,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,058,670 shares of the bank’s stock worth $280,119,000 after acquiring an additional 749,370 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $25,138,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 280.1% in the third quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 334,678 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,633,000 after purchasing an additional 246,622 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $6,013,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 8.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,540,402 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,543,000 after buying an additional 124,851 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total value of $304,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 204,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,885,525. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $34.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $27.24 and a 12 month high of $45.72.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.04). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 24.41%. The firm had revenue of $339.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $188.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.32 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CATY shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.40.

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.