Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Short Interest Up 5.5% in October

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, a growth of 5.5% from the September 30th total of 2,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 291,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.9 days. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY opened at $45.93 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.11. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $33.88 and a 12-month high of $47.65.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 34.26%.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,873. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was 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 $157,873. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 7,289 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.05, for a total value of $342,947.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 347,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,371,659.15. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,590 shares of company stock worth $940,688 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 208,599 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.4% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $6,271,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $2,752,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $2,338,000. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.00.

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.