Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price objective increased by research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $45.00 to $56.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective points to a potential upside of 9.93% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also commented on CATY. Wedbush upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $50.94 on Wednesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $33.88 and a one year high of $55.29. 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 company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.01 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.66.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.01). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. The business had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total value of $2,114,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 295,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,609,973.24. The trade was a 11.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $42,300.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at $157,873. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,500,047 in the last ninety days. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 168.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $201,000. 75.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.