Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $65.05 and last traded at $64.92, with a volume of 5990 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.46.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CATY. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Stephens lifted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.96.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 29.69%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,315 shares in the company, valued at $463,112.65. The trade was a 73.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,772,020. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CATY. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $76,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.