Wedbush Research Analysts Cut Earnings Estimates for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) – Stock analysts at Wedbush dropped their FY2025 EPS estimates for Cathay General Bancorp in a research note issued on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now forecasts that the bank will post earnings of $4.25 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $4.85. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cathay General Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $3.92 per share.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $35.53 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $37.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.81. The stock has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $27.24 and a fifty-two week high of $45.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $339.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $188.85 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 24.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.32 EPS.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $51,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $109,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.0% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,559 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 545.5% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,260 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 22,160.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,452 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 4,432 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total value of $304,150.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 204,500 shares in the company, valued at $8,885,525. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 30.09%.

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.