Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Increases Dividend to $0.38 Per Share

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a dividend of 0.38 per share by the bank on Monday, March 9th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This is a 11.8% increase from Cathay General Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34.

Cathay General Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years. Cathay General Bancorp has a payout ratio of 30.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cathay General Bancorp to earn $4.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.0%.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 0.6%

CATY stock traded down $0.33 on Tuesday, reaching $50.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,143. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $36.06 and a 12-month high of $54.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.21.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.13. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $222.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.50.

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.