Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $45.89 and last traded at $45.74, with a volume of 28600 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $44.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CATY. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.50.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.30. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $178.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.19 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $555,440.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,699,061.14. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $555,440.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kim R. Bingham sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.89, for a total transaction of $269,340.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 45,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,043,841.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,401 shares of company stock valued at $1,728,581 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 794 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

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.