Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $58.63 and last traded at $58.4550, with a volume of 64696 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.18.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CATY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on 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 increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.71. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, April 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to buy up to 4,164,630.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, CEO Chang Liu sold 4,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 127,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,780,197.16. This trade represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CATY. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 12,925 shares of the bank’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.0% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,068 shares of the bank’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 36.0% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 979 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 57,646 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,788,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.6% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,703 shares of the bank’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.