Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stephens cut Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $53.00 target price on Cathay General Bancorp and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.71.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY opened at $47.92 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.73. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $36.06 and a 12-month high of $55.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 1.00.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 21.44%.The firm had revenue of $196.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $197.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 4th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,348,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,856,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $23,188,000. CSM Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,077,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 325.6% in the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 202,577 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,223,000 after acquiring an additional 154,974 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

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.