JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 9,724 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 6.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 156,125 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 9,724 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.22% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $6,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CATY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.4% in the second 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,758,777 shares of the bank's stock valued at $118,489,000 after acquiring an additional 87,847 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,615,000 after acquiring an additional 20,840 shares during the last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 256,404 shares of the bank's stock valued at $11,013,000 after purchasing an additional 72,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,493,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $47.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 263,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 316,578. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 1.13. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $33.88 and a 1-year high of $55.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.19.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 20.57%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.26%.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 owns 295,252 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,609,973.24. The trade was a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 48,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,500,047. 4.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CATY. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.75.

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.