Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Short Interest Update

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,900,000 shares, a drop of 20.8% from the March 31st total of 2,400,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 460,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.1 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler cut their price objective 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.3% in the 4th 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,861,501 shares of the bank's stock valued at $136,236,000 after purchasing an additional 102,724 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,519,442 shares of the bank's stock worth $72,341,000 after purchasing an additional 85,963 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position 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 valued at $70,037,000 after buying an additional 72,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,268,030 shares of the bank's stock valued at $60,371,000 after buying an additional 6,081 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company's stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 2.1 %

Cathay General Bancorp stock traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $42.94. The stock had a trading volume of 273,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,044. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.19. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12 month low of $34.75 and a 12 month high of $55.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.84 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.34%.

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.