Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Given New $52.00 Price Target at Wedbush

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its target price lifted by Wedbush from $50.00 to $52.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the bank’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Cathay General Bancorp’s FY2024 earnings at $4.04 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.92 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.94 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.95 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.94 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $3.75 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.95 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on CATY. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $44.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $46.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.82.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total transaction of $555,440.79. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.