Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CATY. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY opened at $64.61 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $61.86 and its 200 day moving average is $56.06. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $44.57 and a 12-month high of $65.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Director Richard Sun sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total transaction of $189,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $176,652. This trade represents a 51.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 28,000 shares of company stock worth $1,772,020 in the last three months. Company insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $604,644,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% in the 1st 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock worth $81,547,000 after purchasing an additional 105,484 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,140,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 669,527 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,398,000 after buying an additional 48,034 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.