Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) saw a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a decline of 9.5% from the January 15th total of 2,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 347,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days. Currently, 3.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $46.58 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $33.88 and a fifty-two week high of $55.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.27.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. Equities research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.34%.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 63.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 850 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $82,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 189.8% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,794 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens cut their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wedbush upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.80.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.