Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $64.27 and last traded at $64.15, with a volume of 22674 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. DA Davidson upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 1.0%

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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $60.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The company had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.28 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 29.69%.

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

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Director Richard Sun sold 5,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp 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 directly owned 6,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $401,385.40. The trade was a 44.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were 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 owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold 45,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,729,350 in the last three months. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,050,007 shares of the bank’s stock worth $201,930,000 after acquiring an additional 17,444 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,547,000 after purchasing an additional 105,484 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $41,140,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 669,527 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,398,000 after purchasing an additional 48,034 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 580,038 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,068,000 after purchasing an additional 67,898 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.