Wall Street Zen Upgrades Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) to “Hold”

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson raised their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of CATY stock opened at $45.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 0.97. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $36.06 and a 52 week high of $55.29. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.55.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.15 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $210.61 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $202.71 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 22.26%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, CEO Chang Liu sold 5,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.24, for a total transaction of $238,829.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 108,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,016,022.72. The trade was a 4.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $140,490. This trade represents a 25.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 4.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5,438.5% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 720 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 101.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 781 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 174.8% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.