Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Short Interest Update

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a decline of 9.5% from the January 15th total of 2,210,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 347,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CATY has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens cut their price target 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 cut their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $50.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in 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 during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 52,236 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,509,000 after acquiring an additional 7,837 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,615,000 after acquiring an additional 20,840 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in 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 valued at $118,489,000 after acquiring an additional 87,847 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,257,000 after acquiring an additional 74,394 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY traded down $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $45.84. The stock had a trading volume of 389,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 323,022. The business's fifty day moving average is $47.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.88 and a twelve month high of $55.29.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is 34.34%.

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.