Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $64.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.48% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on CATY. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $62.92 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $43.65 and a twelve month high of $63.91. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at $150,808. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter worth $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $80,000. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

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.