Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) saw a significant drop in short interest in 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. Currently, 3.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 289,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.9 days.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ CATY traded down $0.87 on Tuesday, reaching $50.19. The company had a trading volume of 57,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 324,281. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $33.88 and a fifty-two week high of $55.29. The business has a 50 day moving average of $48.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.52.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total value of $2,114,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CATY. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.8% in the second 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of 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 worth $158,206,000 after buying an additional 176,215 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $7,493,000. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $6,271,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CATY. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Stephens upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.75.

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.