Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) announced its earnings results on Monday. The bank reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03, Zacks reports. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 10.70%.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Cathay General Bancorp stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $38.60. 528,063 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 352,964. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $33.88 and a fifty-two week high of $55.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75 and a beta of 0.99.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on CATY shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.80.

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.