EMC Capital Management Increases Stock Position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

EMC Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 954.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,544 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,544 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CATY. Quarry LP increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 68.5% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,730 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $201,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens decreased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wedbush upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 295,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,609,973.24. This trade represents a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CATY opened at $47.83 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.92. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.88 and a twelve month high of $55.29. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 1.13.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.75% and a net margin of 20.57%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.34%.

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.