Piper Sandler Has Lowered Expectations for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Price

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price objective reduced by Piper Sandler from $45.00 to $43.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Wedbush boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens cut their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $47.18 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $49.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.92. The company has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 1.13. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $33.88 and a 12-month high of $55.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 10.75%. On average, equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.34%.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 23,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $999,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 11.7% during the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 6,108 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $262,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.