Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $64.27 and last traded at $64.15, with a volume of 22674 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $63.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.22. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.69%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was 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 approximately $15,780,197.16. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard Sun sold 5,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $316,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $401,385.40. This trade represents a 44.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 45,000 shares of company stock worth $2,729,350 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,430,000 after buying an additional 484,149 shares in the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,550,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,505,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,140,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,355,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.