Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $52.06 and last traded at $51.8720, with a volume of 100189 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $49.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CATY shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 3.0%

The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.37. The firm has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 0.85.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $222.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.76 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 22.76%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 14,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total value of $647,360.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 155,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,211,128. This trade represents a 8.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.83, for a total transaction of $46,830.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,490. The trade was a 25.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,755 shares of company stock valued at $1,820,148. 4.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $36,348,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,189,000 after purchasing an additional 331,997 shares during the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $7,077,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 325.6% during the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 202,577 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,223,000 after buying an additional 154,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HRT Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,987,000. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol CATY. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides a full suite of financial services to commercial, institutional and retail clients. As a community-focused institution, the company emphasizes relationship banking and tailored solutions for businesses and individuals.

Founded in 1962 by a group of Chinese American entrepreneurs, Cathay has expanded from a single branch operation in downtown Los Angeles into one of the largest Asian-American banks in the United States.