Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Short Interest Update

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the November 15th total of 2,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 289,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.9 days. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CATY shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush boosted 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 note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued 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 $47.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,873. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total transaction of $2,114,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 295,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,609,973.24. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY traded up $0.32 during trading on Monday, reaching $50.89. 65,224 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 324,108. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $33.88 and a 52-week high of $55.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.99 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, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. 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 2.67%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.26%.

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.