Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.25.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research lowered Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Stephens upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In related 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 value of $1,266,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,315 shares in the company, valued at $463,112.65. This trade represents a 73.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 28,000 shares of company stock worth $1,772,020 over the last quarter. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth $3,688,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 6,522.1% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,520,125 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $280,203,000 after buying an additional 4,451,867 shares during the last quarter. denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $227,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.7% during the second quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd now owns 14,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $886,000 after acquiring an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 0.7%

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $61.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.86. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $44.57 and a 12-month high of $65.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $62.43 and its 200 day moving average is $56.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 29.69%.

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.