Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Receives $50.60 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $50.60.

Several research firms have weighed in on CATY. Stephens downgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 7,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.81, for a total transaction of $362,877.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 138,360 shares in the company, valued at $6,614,991.60. This trade represents a 5.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 5,165 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total value of $238,829.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,016,022.72. The trade was a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 38,755 shares of company stock worth $1,820,148. 4.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,348,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,856,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $23,188,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,189,000 after buying an additional 331,997 shares during the period. Finally, CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $7,077,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY stock opened at $49.13 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.76. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $36.06 and a twelve month high of $53.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 22.26%.The company had revenue of $210.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $202.71 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.41%.

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.