Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.80.

CATY has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 332.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 19,458 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,236 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,509,000 after purchasing an additional 7,837 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,615,000 after purchasing an additional 20,840 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $118,489,000 after purchasing an additional 87,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,257,000 after buying an additional 74,394 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY opened at $43.98 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.74. The firm has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.70%. Research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 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, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 34.34%.

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.