Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

CATY has been the subject of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.2%

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $61.62 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.87. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $43.65 and a 12 month high of $61.97.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The firm had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $243,492.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock worth $1,421,341 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,050,007 shares of the bank’s stock worth $201,930,000 after buying an additional 17,444 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,685,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,547,000 after buying an additional 105,484 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,140,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 669,527 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,398,000 after acquiring an additional 48,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 580,038 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,068,000 after acquiring an additional 67,898 shares during the period. 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.