Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $5.81 Million Stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 69.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 130,240 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 53,406 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.18% of Cathay General Bancorp worth $5,805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 10.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,058,670 shares of the bank’s stock worth $280,119,000 after acquiring an additional 749,370 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $25,138,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 280.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 334,678 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,633,000 after purchasing an additional 246,622 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $6,013,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 8.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,540,402 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,543,000 after buying an additional 124,851 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY opened at $34.89 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $27.24 and a 52 week high of $45.72.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.04). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.41% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The company had revenue of $339.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 30.09%.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total value of $304,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 204,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,885,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.40.

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.