Wedbush Analysts Lower Earnings Estimates for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) – Equities researchers at Wedbush cut their Q2 2024 EPS estimates for shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report released on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now forecasts that the bank will post earnings per share of $0.90 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $1.03. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cathay General Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $4.00 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Cathay General Bancorp’s Q3 2024 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.04 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $4.00 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.03 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.10 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $1.12 EPS.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CATY. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $34.89 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.84. The company has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $27.24 and a 52 week high of $45.72.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $339.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.85 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 27.02%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $3,116,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 178,450 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,996,000 after buying an additional 24,317 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 970,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $43,257,000 after buying an additional 3,385 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.8% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,654,350 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,505,000 after buying an additional 75,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 12.7% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 738,787 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,680,000 after buying an additional 83,370 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total value of $304,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 204,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,885,525. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.90%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.98%.

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.