Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $63.72 and last traded at $63.6780, with a volume of 63635 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $62.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CATY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 23.79% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $213.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.26 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $150,000.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to buy up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total value of $1,146,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 275,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,780,197.16. The trade was a 6.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $150,808. The trade was a 17.16% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% in 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 period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares during the last quarter. 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.