Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $63.72 and last traded at $63.6780, with a volume of 63635 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $62.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a 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 report on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.26 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 31.34%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,780,197.16. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $80,000. 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, 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.