Cathay General Bancorp's (CATY) Buy (B-) Rating Reaffirmed at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Cathay General Bancorp's stock has been reaffirmed with a "buy (B-)" rating by Weiss Ratings, despite mixed evaluations from other firms.
• The stock price recently rose to $46.94, with a 12-month trading range between $36.06 and $55.29.
• In the latest earnings report, Cathay General Bancorp reported $1.13 earnings per share, falling short of estimates, but exceeded revenue expectations with $210.61 million.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy (b-)" rating restated by Weiss Ratings in a research note issued on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CATY. Stephens downgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.60.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of CATY stock traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $46.94. The stock had a trading volume of 318,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 318,317. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $36.06 and a 12-month high of $55.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm's 50-day moving average is $48.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.84 and a beta of 0.94.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 22.26%.The business had revenue of $210.61 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $202.71 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 122,591 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,886,000 after buying an additional 3,038 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 389.1% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 58,995 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,832,000 after acquiring an additional 46,932 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 96.7% during the third quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 81,799 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,927,000 after acquiring an additional 40,214 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lifted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 6.9% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 40,237 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,932,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.

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