Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) hit a new 52-week high on Monday. The company traded as high as $65.85 and last traded at $66.0230, with a volume of 37,183 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $64.40.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CATY has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark raised Cathay General Bancorp to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Up 1.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.64 and a 200 day moving average of $57.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 21st. The bank reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($0.02). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 25.32% and a return on equity of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $230.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $227.45 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.52 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 28th. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 28.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Albert Sun sold 960 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.95, for a total transaction of $62,352.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard Sun sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 2,200 shares in the company, valued at $137,082. This trade represents a 31.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,560 shares of company stock worth $475,964. 4.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $604,644,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,050,007 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $201,930,000 after buying an additional 17,444 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $40,799,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $26,052,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $25,450,000. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.