Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Price

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $56.00 to $55.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "market perform" rating on the bank's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.30% from the stock's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Stephens raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY traded down $1.89 during trading on Thursday, reaching $46.89. The stock had a trading volume of 703,470 shares, compared to its average volume of 354,609. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $49.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.60. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $33.88 and a fifty-two week high of $55.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share (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 11.30%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 7,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.05, for a total transaction of $342,947.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 347,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,371,659.15. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047 over the last quarter. 4.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 332.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,087,000 after acquiring an additional 19,458 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,615,000 after purchasing an additional 20,840 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,758,777 shares of the bank's stock worth $118,489,000 after acquiring an additional 87,847 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 74,394 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 156,125 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,706,000 after buying an additional 9,724 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.01% of the company's stock.

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.