Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Short Interest Update

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was the target of a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,030,000 shares, an increase of 6.3% from the March 31st total of 1,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 383,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.3 days. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $34,563,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,058,670 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $280,119,000 after acquiring an additional 749,370 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,138,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 280.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 334,678 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,633,000 after purchasing an additional 246,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter worth $6,013,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $35.18 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $27.24 and a 52 week high of $45.72.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.04). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 24.41%. The company had revenue of $339.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.85 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.32 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.93 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 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 30.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CATY has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.00.

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.