Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $60.12 and last traded at $59.9410, with a volume of 260989 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.49.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.8%

The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.23.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.27 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CATY. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 101.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 36.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 979 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.