Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Earns Outperform Rating from Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $44.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on CATY. StockNews.com cut Cathay General Bancorp from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Saturday, April 6th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $39.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $34.89 on Tuesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $27.24 and a 12-month high of $45.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $37.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.12.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.04). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 27.02% and a return on equity of 13.89%. The business had revenue of $339.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4 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 Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.98%.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the first quarter worth approximately $586,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $367,917,000 after acquiring an additional 196,146 shares during the period. Willner & Heller LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,014,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 133,852 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 54,557 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.