Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $58.06 and last traded at $57.99, with a volume of 22720 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $57.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on CATY shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 1.2%

The stock has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a PE ratio of 11.84 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.28.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.27 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.34%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was 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 owned 2,693 shares in the company, valued at $150,808. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $243,492.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 127,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341 in the last quarter. 4.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CATY. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $41,140,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $23,430,000 after purchasing an additional 484,149 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $20,189,000 after buying an additional 331,997 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,426,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,355,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.