Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $60.12 and last traded at $59.9410, with a volume of 260989 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $59.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 0.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.08. The company has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.35 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.27 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to buy up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total transaction of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 2,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $243,492.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 127,819 shares in the company, valued at $6,435,686.65. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341 over the last 90 days. 4.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CATY. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $41,140,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,430,000 after acquiring an additional 484,149 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 375.1% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 420,509 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,189,000 after acquiring an additional 331,997 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,426,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,355,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.