Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 12,684 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,230,722 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 12,684 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 5.94% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $201,426,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 850 shares of the bank's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,961 shares of the bank's stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the bank's stock worth $104,000 after buying an additional 657 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 21,599 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the bank's stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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 report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $49.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 7.1 %

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $41.35 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $33.88 and a 1-year high of $55.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.27. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 0.99.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. The business had revenue of $187.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.17 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 34.34%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.