Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seven analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $50.1667.

Several analysts have recently commented on CATY shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stephens cut Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5,438.5% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 720 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter valued at $46,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 174.8% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 36.8% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $48.31 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $48.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.14. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $36.06 and a fifty-two week high of $55.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10. The firm had revenue of $196.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.04 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 21.44%.The business’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 32.85%.

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.