Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $47.75.

CATY has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 7,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.05, for a total transaction of $342,947.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 347,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,371,659.15. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,873. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $47.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $49.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.48. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $33.88 and a one year high of $55.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. The company had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 34.26%.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.