Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Shares Break Above 200 Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)’s share price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday. The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $58.67 and traded as high as $61.36. Cathay General Bancorp shares last traded at $60.84, with a volume of 463,284 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CATY shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research lowered Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Benchmark raised Cathay General Bancorp to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 1.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.67. The stock has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 0.89.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. Cathay General Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $99,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,554.14. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Richard Sun sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.31, for a total value of $62,310.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $137,082. This represents a 31.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $1,996,362 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $604,644,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,050,007 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $201,930,000 after purchasing an additional 17,444 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $41,140,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $40,799,000. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $26,052,000. Institutional investors 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. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses and institutions through branch offices, digital banking channels and other delivery platforms.

Cathay Bank offers deposit products, commercial and consumer lending, residential and commercial real estate financing, small business loans, trade finance and cash management services. The bank also provides online and mobile banking, wealth management and other financial services designed to support personal and business banking needs.

Founded in 1962, Cathay Bank has historically served communities in the United States with strong ties to the Chinese-American and broader Asian-American markets.