Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Share Price Breaks Above 200 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $59.25 and traded as high as $60.01. Cathay General Bancorp shares last traded at $59.56, with a volume of 332,122 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CATY. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Benchmark raised Cathay General Bancorp to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 0.5%

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 has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.85 and a 200-day moving average of $59.31.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 13.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 28th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total transaction of $1,266,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $463,112.65. This represents a 73.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total value of $99,952.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,554.14. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 31,600 shares of company stock worth $1,996,362 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,791 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,068 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $402,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 36,078 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.