Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02, FiscalAI reports. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock traded down $0.70 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $61.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 721,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 469,739. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $43.65 and a 52-week high of $63.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $59.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.48. The company has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,780,197.16. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,547,000 after buying an additional 105,484 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 35,984 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,159 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 384.9% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,831 shares of the bank’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 6,216 shares during the period. Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $334,000. Finally, Man Group plc bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $970,000. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CATY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol CATY. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides a full suite of financial services to commercial, institutional and retail clients. As a community-focused institution, the company emphasizes relationship banking and tailored solutions for businesses and individuals.

Founded in 1962 by a group of Chinese American entrepreneurs, Cathay has expanded from a single branch operation in downtown Los Angeles into one of the largest Asian-American banks in the United States.