Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Reaches New 12-Month High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Cathay General Bancorp hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $61.65 and ending around $61.31, up about 1.7% on the day.
• The bank’s latest earnings beat expectations, with Q1 EPS of $1.29 versus the $1.19 consensus and revenue of $213.2 million, while analysts currently hold a consensus rating of “Hold” with a $51.75 price target.
• The company continues returning capital to shareholders through a quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share and a newly authorized share buyback program, though insiders have also sold shares in recent months.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $61.65 and last traded at $61.3110, with a volume of 70100 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $60.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CATY. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.7%

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.86.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.10. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 23.79%.The company had revenue of $213.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $211.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 28th. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.34%.

Cathay General Bancorp declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $150,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4,164,630.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, SVP May K. Chan sold 558 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.00, for a total value of $31,248.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 2,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $150,808. This trade represents a 17.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.33, for a total transaction of $1,146,600.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 275,252 shares in the company, valued at $15,780,197.16. This represents a 6.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 25,394 shares of company stock valued at $1,421,341 over the last 90 days. 4.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CATY. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,525 shares of the bank's stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $76,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 319.7% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the bank's stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, trading on NASDAQ under the symbol CATY. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides a full suite of financial services to commercial, institutional and retail clients. As a community-focused institution, the company emphasizes relationship banking and tailored solutions for businesses and individuals.

Founded in 1962 by a group of Chinese American entrepreneurs, Cathay has expanded from a single branch operation in downtown Los Angeles into one of the largest Asian-American banks in the United States.

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