Wedbush Issues Pessimistic Forecast for CATY Earnings

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) – Investment analysts at Wedbush lowered their FY2024 EPS estimates for Cathay General Bancorp in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now expects that the bank will earn $4.04 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $4.08. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cathay General Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $4.02 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Cathay General Bancorp’s Q1 2025 earnings at $0.92 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.94 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.95 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.94 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $3.75 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.95 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $44.83 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $43.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.82. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $46.70.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. CWM LLC raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $555,440.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 149,566 shares in the company, valued at $6,699,061.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 30.09%.

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.