Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Short Interest Update

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,180,000 shares, a decline of 9.2% from the September 15th total of 2,400,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 317,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $555,440.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares in the company, valued at $6,699,061.14. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kim R. Bingham sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.89, for a total transaction of $269,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 45,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,043,841.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,401 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,581 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 794 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:CATY traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $46.61. 281,611 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 329,348. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 1.11. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $32.08 and a 1-year high of $46.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $42.84 and its 200-day moving average is $39.44.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. The firm had revenue of $178.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CATY shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Truist Financial raised their price target 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. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.50.

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.