DA Davidson Reiterates $51.00 Price Target for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) has been given a $51.00 price objective by equities researchers at DA Davidson in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the bank's stock. DA Davidson's price objective points to a potential upside of 9.40% from the stock's previous close. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Cathay General Bancorp's Q3 2025 earnings at $1.20 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $4.57 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $5.07 EPS.

CATY has been the topic of several other research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.86.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of CATY traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $46.62. 395,963 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 431,968. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.50. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $36.06 and a 52 week high of $55.29. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 0.93.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 21.44% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The company had revenue of $196.61 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $197.04 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 4th that allows the company to repurchase $150.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 729 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $32,805.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 4,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $180,000. The trade was a 15.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,230,722 shares of the bank's stock valued at $201,426,000 after acquiring an additional 12,684 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,970,173 shares of the bank's stock worth $127,807,000 after buying an additional 108,672 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,577,657 shares of the bank's stock worth $67,887,000 after buying an additional 58,215 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,471,066 shares of the bank's stock worth $70,037,000 after buying an additional 72,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,268,030 shares of the bank's stock worth $60,371,000 after buying an additional 6,081 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

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.