Wedbush Expects Stronger Earnings for Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) - Equities researchers at Wedbush upped their Q4 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report issued on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now anticipates that the bank will post earnings of $1.11 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.07. Wedbush has a "Outperform" rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cathay General Bancorp's current full-year earnings is $4.02 per share.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on CATY. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $44.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY traded up $1.63 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $46.46. The company had a trading volume of 265,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 327,189. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $33.55 and a 12 month high of $46.70. 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 cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 1.11. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $43.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The company had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.70 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CATY. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% in the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 150,938 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 179.5% in the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 49,688 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,134,000 after buying an additional 31,912 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 44,399 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,890,000 after buying an additional 4,855 shares during the period. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the third quarter worth $6,271,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank's stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $555,440.79. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

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.