Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) gapped up prior to trading on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $60.63, but opened at $63.93. Cathay General Bancorp shares last traded at $63.6960, with a volume of 7,776 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CATY. Benchmark raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Friday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.22% and a net margin of 25.32%. The company had revenue of $230.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th were issued a $0.38 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total transaction of $1,266,200.00. Following the sale, the director owned 7,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $463,112.65. The trade was a 73.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total value of $99,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $147,554.14. This trade represents a 40.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $1,996,362 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $604,644,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,799,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,052,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,450,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,686,000. Institutional investors 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. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions, with a particular focus on serving the Chinese American and broader communities in the markets where it operates.

Cathay Bank offers deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial lending, small-business financing, consumer loans, treasury management and other traditional banking services.