Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Given New $55.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price target lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $56.00 to $55.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on CATY. Stephens raised Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush raised their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $46.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $49.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.61. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $33.88 and a 1 year high of $55.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 34.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total value of $2,114,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 295,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,609,973.24. The trade was a 11.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,500,047 in the last ninety days. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 32.7% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 10,222 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 2,520 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 63.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 111,183 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,194,000 after buying an additional 43,285 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 6,846 shares of the bank’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 7.6% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 160,241 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,044,000 after acquiring an additional 11,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 128.8% during the second quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 18,892 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 10,634 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.