Wedbush Boosts Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Price Target to $52.00

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) had its target price upped by Wedbush from $50.00 to $52.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the bank's stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on CATY. Truist Financial increased their target price 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. Piper Sandler lifted 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 report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $44.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CATY traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 228,010 shares, compared to its average volume of 328,161. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1-year low of $32.08 and a 1-year high of $46.70. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $43.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06 and a beta of 1.11.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 11.96%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total value of $903,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares in the company, valued at $16,053,837.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $555,440.79. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 149,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,699,061.14. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total transaction of $903,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,053,837.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 38,401 shares of company stock worth $1,728,581. 4.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank's stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 16.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,675 shares of the bank's stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 523 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.