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

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $62.25.

Several brokerages have issued reports on CATY. Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stephens raised their price objective 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 restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target 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.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $63.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.18. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $43.65 and a 12-month high of $63.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.69%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors 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 shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,315 shares in the company, valued at $463,112.65. The trade was a 73.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 45,000 shares of company stock worth $2,729,350. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,430,000 after acquiring an additional 484,149 shares in the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $5,550,000. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $1,505,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $41,140,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $6,355,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.