Brokerages Set Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Price Target at $52.00

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.75.

CATY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.0%

CATY opened at $57.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.01. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $41.83 and a 1-year high of $58.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to buy up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 127,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,435,686.65. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 25.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 14,761 shares of the bank’s stock worth $634,000 after acquiring an additional 3,030 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 40,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 40,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $316,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 183,090 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,878,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.