Piper Sandler Cuts Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Price Target to $43.00

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price objective decreased by Piper Sandler from $45.00 to $43.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an underweight rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY stock opened at $47.18 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company’s 50-day moving average is $49.10 and its 200-day moving average is $45.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 1.13. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $33.88 and a 1 year high of $55.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.75% and a net margin of 20.57%. Equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 34.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total value of $2,114,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 295,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,609,973.24. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 821.4% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 381,764 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,176,000 after acquiring an additional 340,329 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $7,493,000. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,271,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,758,777 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,489,000 after purchasing an additional 87,847 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 74,394 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is 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.