Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Price Target Cut to $57.00 by Analysts at Stephens

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price target cut by Stephens from $60.00 to $57.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of CATY opened at $46.89 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $49.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.13. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $33.88 and a 1-year high of $55.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. Analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 34.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 7,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.05, for a total transaction of $342,947.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 347,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,371,659.15. This trade represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047 in the last three months. 4.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 68.5% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,730 shares of the bank’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 1,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $201,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.