Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.75.

Several brokerages have weighed in on CATY. Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY stock traded up $0.08 on Tuesday, reaching $61.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 504,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 536,265. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.83. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $43.65 and a 1 year high of $63.72. The company has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,780,197.16. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

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

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.