Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $62.25.

CATY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.3%

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $63.19 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $43.65 and a 1-year high of $63.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.18.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to buy up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Richard Sun sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total transaction of $316,550.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,340 shares in the company, valued at $401,385.40. The trade was a 44.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 45,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,729,350. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after buying an additional 6,740 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 183,090 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,878,000 after buying an additional 8,914 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.