Analysts Set Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Price Target at $50.80

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $50.80.

CATY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total value of $2,114,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 68.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,730 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,517 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.5 %

CATY opened at $47.42 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.93. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $33.88 and a 52 week high of $55.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a PE ratio of 11.97 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.34%.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.