Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Receives $50.60 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.60.

A number of research firms have commented on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Stephens lowered Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, August 4th.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of CATY stock opened at $46.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74 and a beta of 0.97. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $36.06 and a 1-year high of $55.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $48.08 and a 200 day moving average of $46.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $210.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.71 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 10.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 28th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 28th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.83, for a total transaction of $46,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,490. This represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 5,165 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total value of $238,829.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 108,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,016,022.72. The trade was a 4.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 4.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 354,457 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,252,000 after buying an additional 8,860 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 174,987 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,004,000 after buying an additional 22,558 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,714,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 58,021 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,473,000 after buying an additional 5,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 259.0% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 76,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,273,000 after buying an additional 54,870 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

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.