Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 340,483 shares of the bank's stock after selling 18,827 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $14,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Quarry LP increased its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank's stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank's stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of Cathay General Bancorp 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 sale, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. The trade was a 7.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 60,590 shares of company stock valued at $3,055,488. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company's stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $51.78. The company had a trading volume of 302,827 shares, compared to its average volume of 327,465. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04 and a beta of 1.10. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $33.88 and a one year high of $54.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.26.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for 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 posted $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.00.

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.