Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Declares $0.34 Quarterly Dividend

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 15th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 29th will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the bank on Monday, September 9th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th.

Cathay General Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.1% per year over the last three years. Cathay General Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 32.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cathay General Bancorp to earn $4.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.2%.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 1.3 %

CATY traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.11. The stock had a trading volume of 22,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 336,873. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.64 and a beta of 1.13. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $32.08 and a 1-year high of $45.88.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. The firm had revenue of $178.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CATY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $38.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of 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 given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.00.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total transaction of $903,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 355,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Kim R. Bingham sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.89, for a total transaction of $269,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 45,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,043,841.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total transaction of $903,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.