Stephens Has Lowered Expectations for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Stock Price

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price target dropped by stock analysts at Stephens from $60.00 to $57.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 21.77% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CATY. Wedbush lifted their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of CATY stock opened at $46.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.13. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $33.88 and a 52-week high of $55.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.68.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.75% and a net margin of 20.57%. Research analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In other news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,873. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 7,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.05, for a total transaction of $342,947.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 347,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,371,659.15. This represents a 2.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 332.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,313 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 19,458 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,615,000 after acquiring an additional 20,840 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,758,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,489,000 after acquiring an additional 87,847 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 104.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,690 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,257,000 after acquiring an additional 74,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 6.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 156,125 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,706,000 after purchasing an additional 9,724 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.