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

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,988,343 shares of the bank's stock after selling 139,490 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.22% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $380,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 332.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,087,000 after purchasing an additional 19,458 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 17.7% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,236 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,509,000 after purchasing an additional 7,837 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,615,000 after purchasing an additional 20,840 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank's stock worth $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 74,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 6.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 156,125 shares of the bank's stock worth $6,706,000 after buying an additional 9,724 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CATY has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY stock traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $37.84. The stock had a trading volume of 742,583 shares, compared to its average volume of 344,497. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $33.88 and a 12-month high of $55.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.68. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.56 and a beta of 0.99.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.