Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Stephens raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

CATY opened at $64.61 on Wednesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $44.57 and a 1-year high of $65.05. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $61.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The business’s revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Director Richard Sun sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total transaction of $189,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $176,652. This trade represents a 51.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 28,000 shares of company stock worth $1,772,020 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 3,030 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,708,000 after buying an additional 6,740 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the first quarter valued at about $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 183,090 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,878,000 after buying an additional 8,914 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.