Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Announces Earnings Results

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.04), Yahoo Finance reports. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 27.02% and a return on equity of 13.89%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.32 earnings per share.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $36.69. The company had a trading volume of 329,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,276. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $27.24 and a twelve month high of $45.72. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.06 and its 200-day moving average is $38.82. The company has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.55 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total transaction of $304,150.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 204,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,885,525. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 4.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.20.

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.