Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Invests $1.80 Million in Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 40,486 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,804,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter worth $1,831,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 402.2% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 45,161 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 36,169 shares in the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter worth $929,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.6% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 158,597 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,513,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 18.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,913 shares of the bank’s stock worth $414,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total transaction of $304,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 204,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,885,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.2 %

CATY opened at $35.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.61 and its 200 day moving average is $38.79. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $27.24 and a fifty-two week high of $45.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share 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 13.02%. The firm had revenue of $339.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.32 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.88%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CATY shares. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.00.

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.