Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) shares gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $36.62, but opened at $35.15. Cathay General Bancorp shares last traded at $34.23, with a volume of 86,655 shares trading hands.

The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $339.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.85 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.16% and a net margin of 24.41%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.32 EPS.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CATY. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 6th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total transaction of $304,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 204,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,885,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $586,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,254,816 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $367,917,000 after acquiring an additional 196,146 shares in the last quarter. Willner & Heller LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,014,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 861,364 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,391,000 after acquiring an additional 133,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 128.8% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 96,924 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,320,000 after acquiring an additional 54,557 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 1.12.

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.