Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Sets New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The stock traded as high as $61.65 and last traded at $61.3110, with a volume of 70100 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $60.89.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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 report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $243,492.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 127,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,435,686.65. The trade was a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $80,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.6%

The company has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.96. 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 (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.26 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.Cathay General Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to repurchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.