Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Price

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price target decreased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $56.00 to $55.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on CATY. Stephens upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY stock opened at $46.89 on Thursday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $33.88 and a 1 year high of $55.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.61.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 20.57%. Research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 34.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total value of $2,114,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 295,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,609,973.24. This trade represents a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,873. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CATY. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 23,264 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $999,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 6,108 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.