Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. Decreases Stock Holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. cut its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 10.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 184,104 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 20,459 shares during the period. Cathay General Bancorp comprises approximately 1.5% of Stieven Capital Advisors L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. owned approximately 0.25% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $6,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $384,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.9% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,954 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares during the period. Access Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.1% in the second quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 20,520 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $774,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.7% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 36,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% in the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 22,334 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $555,440.79. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,699,061.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kim R. Bingham sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.89, for a total transaction of $269,340.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 45,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,043,841.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $555,440.79. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 149,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,401 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,581 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY traded up $0.32 on Friday, hitting $43.99. 247,783 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 274,720. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.96 and its 200 day moving average is $38.50. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.08 and a fifty-two week high of $45.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.73 and a beta of 1.13.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. The company had revenue of $178.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on CATY. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.00.

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.