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

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $65.85 and last traded at $66.0230, with a volume of 37,183 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CATY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of 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. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.18 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 25.32% and a return on equity of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $230.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $227.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.52 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 given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 28.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $99,952.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $147,554.14. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Albert Sun sold 960 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.95, for a total transaction of $62,352.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 7,560 shares of company stock valued at $475,964 in the last three months. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $604,644,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,050,007 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $201,930,000 after acquiring an additional 17,444 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $40,799,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $26,052,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $25,450,000. 75.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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, families, businesses and institutions, with a particular focus on serving the Chinese American and broader communities in the markets where it operates.

Cathay Bank offers deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial lending, small-business financing, consumer loans, treasury management and other traditional banking services.