Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.75.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 0.4%

CATY traded down $0.23 on Tuesday, hitting $62.32. 100,986 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 460,122. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.44 and its 200-day moving average is $53.56. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $43.65 and a 12 month high of $63.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The firm had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is 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 of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.0% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,068 shares of the bank’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 351,195 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,511,000 after buying an additional 91,820 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 13.6% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 12,305 shares of the bank’s stock worth $614,000 after buying an additional 1,472 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 12.1% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 68,258 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,403,000 after acquiring an additional 7,361 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 290.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 20,810 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 15,474 shares in the last quarter. 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.