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

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.50.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $50,230.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $100,460. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $485,000. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 96.7% during the 3rd quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 81,799 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,927,000 after acquiring an additional 40,214 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 205.6% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,063 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 8,116 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $831,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $2,515,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $50.14 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.38. 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 $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 11.04 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $222.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This is an increase from Cathay General Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.48%.

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.