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

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $49.34 and last traded at $49.34, with a volume of 2600 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on CATY. StockNews.com raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Wedbush boosted their price target 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. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 12.4 %

The company has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 20.57%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.98 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued 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 2.60%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 34.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $555,440.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,699,061.14. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value 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 trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $157,873. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,590 shares of company stock valued at $940,688 over the last quarter. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,194,232 shares of the bank’s stock worth $158,206,000 after buying an additional 176,215 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,262,970 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,639,000 after buying an additional 208,599 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 4.1% during the second quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 736,727 shares of the bank’s stock worth $27,789,000 after buying an additional 28,968 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 181,928 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,979,000 after buying an additional 3,478 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 7.6% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 160,241 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,044,000 after buying an additional 11,324 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.