Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $65.05 and last traded at $64.92, with a volume of 5990 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $64.46.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CATY shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Stephens lifted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.96. The company has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $221.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $218.28 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.69%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Director Richard Sun sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total value of $189,270.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $176,652. This trade represents a 51.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 28,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,772,020 over the last quarter. 4.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $604,644,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,140,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $40,799,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position 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 worth $23,430,000 after purchasing an additional 484,149 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth approximately $26,052,000. 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.