Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 36,300 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,618,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,058,670 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $280,119,000 after acquiring an additional 749,370 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,968,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,138,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,708,830 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $165,970,000 after acquiring an additional 317,721 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 155.8% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 517,235 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,855,000 after acquiring an additional 315,042 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $36.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.41 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $27.24 and a 12 month high of $45.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.75.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The bank reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $205.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.95 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 27.02%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.98%.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 204,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,885,525. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CATY shares. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com lowered Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.20.

Cathay General Bancorp 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.