Cathay General Bancorp's (CATY) "Overweight" Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $51.00 price target on the bank's stock.

CATY has been the subject of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $49.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY traded down $0.46 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $42.19. The company had a trading volume of 244,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,081. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 0.99. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $34.42 and a 12-month high of $55.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $187.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.17 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.70%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 23,486 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,118,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,770 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,513,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.5% in the first quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 20,747 shares of the bank's stock valued at $893,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 63.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 850 shares of the bank's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,961 shares of the bank's stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.