Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on 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. Piper Sandler raised 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 note on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 1.2%

CATY 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. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $43.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $57.11 and its 200 day moving average is $52.87.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.26 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 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 Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 31.34%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 2,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,808. This represents a 17.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 127,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,435,686.65. This trade represents a 3.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $80,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.