Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 340,483 shares of the bank's stock after selling 18,827 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.48% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $14,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank's stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% during 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. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of 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. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,327 shares of the bank's stock valued at $729,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.7% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 23,264 shares of the bank's stock worth $999,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $47.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY stock traded down $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.04. 221,698 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 330,256. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $49.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $33.88 and a 1-year high of $55.29.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is 34.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total value of $2,114,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 295,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,609,973.24. The trade was a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047. 4.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.