Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Short Interest Up 13.3% in June

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was the target of a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,960,000 shares, a growth of 13.3% from the May 31st total of 1,730,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 347,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days. Currently, 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CATY. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 12,039.0% in the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,977 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 4,936 shares during the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 22,160.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,452 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 4,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sciencast Management LP bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on CATY. Truist Financial cut their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $44.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of CATY traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 166,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 341,690. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a PE ratio of 8.25 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $31.47 and a one year high of $45.72.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $339.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.94 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.09%.

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.