Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $1.17 Million Stake in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,575 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,443 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Cathay General Bancorp were worth $1,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 buying an additional 305 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 96.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,411 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total transaction of $2,114,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CATY. Wedbush upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of CATY stock opened at $47.30 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.17 and a 200-day moving average of $45.91. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $33.88 and a one year high of $55.29. The company has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.13.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.75%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.34%.

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.