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

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.60.

CATY has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Activity

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 729 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $32,805.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,000 shares in the company, valued at $180,000. The trade was a 15.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 23,486 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,770 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,513,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 20,747 shares of the bank’s stock worth $893,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 63.5% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 850 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,961 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of CATY stock opened at $44.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $34.75 and a fifty-two week high of $55.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.08.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The firm had revenue of $187.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.