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

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $50.60.

CATY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of CATY stock opened at $50.81 on Tuesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $36.06 and a 12-month high of $51.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.21.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.41%.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 7,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.81, for a total value of $362,877.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 138,360 shares in the company, valued at $6,614,991.60. This represents a 5.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 5,165 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total value of $238,829.60. Following 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 90 days, insiders have sold 38,755 shares of company stock valued at $1,820,148. Corporate insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $80,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $745,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,083 shares of the bank’s stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 150,601 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,230,000 after acquiring an additional 42,868 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol CATY. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides a full suite of financial services to commercial, institutional and retail clients. As a community-focused institution, the company emphasizes relationship banking and tailored solutions for businesses and individuals.

Founded in 1962 by a group of Chinese American entrepreneurs, Cathay has expanded from a single branch operation in downtown Los Angeles into one of the largest Asian-American banks in the United States.