Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Price Target to $55.00

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price objective dropped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $56.00 to $55.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective points to a potential upside of 17.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CATY. Stephens upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY stock opened at $46.81 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.13. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.88 and a twelve month high of $55.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.75%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at $157,873. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total transaction of $2,114,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 295,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,609,973.24. The trade was a 11.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047 over the last three months. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 332.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after purchasing an additional 19,458 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,615,000 after acquiring an additional 20,840 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,758,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,489,000 after acquiring an additional 87,847 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,257,000 after acquiring an additional 74,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 6.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 156,125 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,706,000 after purchasing an additional 9,724 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.