Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 74,418 Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 54.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 61,983 shares of the bank's stock after selling 74,418 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.09% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $2,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CATY. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. CWM LLC increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank's stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total value of $903,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total transaction of $903,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,401 shares of company stock worth $1,728,581 in the last three months. 4.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $45.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 355,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 329,587. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.08 and a fifty-two week high of $46.45. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $42.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 1.11.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $178.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.19 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.28 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast 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, September 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.09%.

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.