Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

Stephens reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $51.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 7.1 %

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $41.35 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.27. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $33.88 and a 52 week high of $55.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. The company had revenue of $187.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 34.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CATY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,230,722 shares of the bank’s stock worth $201,426,000 after acquiring an additional 12,684 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,861,501 shares of the bank’s stock worth $136,236,000 after purchasing an additional 102,724 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,519,442 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $72,341,000 after purchasing an additional 85,963 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,471,066 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $70,037,000 after buying an additional 72,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,268,030 shares of the bank’s stock worth $60,371,000 after buying an additional 6,081 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.