Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Upgraded at Benchmark

Key Points

• Benchmark upgraded Cathay General Bancorp to “hold,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “hold,” with five hold ratings, one buy, and one sell. The average price target is $62.25.
• Cathay General Bancorp reported quarterly EPS of $1.37, exceeding the $1.35 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 13.1% year over year to $221.2 million.
• The stock opened at $61.13, near its 52-week high of $65.25. Insiders sold $2.0 million of shares over the past three months, while institutional investors own 75.01% of the company.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Benchmark to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Stephens boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Cathay General Bancorp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.1%

CATY opened at $61.13 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $62.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 0.85. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $44.57 and a fifty-two week high of $65.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.71% and a net margin of 24.66%.The business had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $99,952.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,362 shares in the company, valued at $147,554.14. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard Sun sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.31, for a total transaction of $62,310.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,200 shares in the company, valued at $137,082. This represents a 31.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 31,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,996,362 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.53% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CATY. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,431 shares of the bank's stock worth $523,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $354,000. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $1,889,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, is a full-service commercial bank established in 1962 to serve the financial needs of Chinese American communities. Cathay General Bancorp was formed as the bank's holding company in 1990.

Cathay Bank provides a range of banking and financial services for businesses, individuals and institutions. Its offerings include commercial and residential real estate loans, commercial and industrial financing, Small Business Administration loans, consumer lending, deposit accounts, cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and wealth-management solutions.

The company primarily serves customers in major metropolitan areas across California and in selected markets in New York, Texas, Washington, Nevada, Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

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