Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Cathay General Bancorp shares opened sharply higher, rising from a prior close of $60.63 to $63.93 before trading around $63.70.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: the stock has an overall “Hold” consensus, with a $62.25 average price target, despite several brokerages recently raising their targets.
• The bank slightly missed quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $1.43 versus $1.45 expected, while revenue exceeded estimates. Cathay also pays a $0.38 quarterly dividend, representing a 2.4% yield.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $60.63, but opened at $63.93. Cathay General Bancorp shares last traded at $63.6960, with a volume of 7,776 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CATY. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Stephens boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a PE ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 25.32% and a return on equity of 12.22%. The business had revenue of $230.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $227.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cathay General Bancorp's payout ratio is 29.69%.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Director Richard Sun sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.31, for a total value of $62,310.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,200 shares of the company's stock, valued at $137,082. This trade represents a 31.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total value of $99,952.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $147,554.14. This represents a 40.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 31,600 shares of company stock worth $1,996,362 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.53% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Nykredit A S acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $53,000. 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. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions, with a particular focus on serving the Chinese American and broader communities in the markets where it operates.

Cathay Bank offers deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, commercial and industrial lending, small-business financing, consumer loans, treasury management and other traditional banking services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.